| 1 | Elihu spoke further [to Job] and said, |
| 2 | Do you think this is your right,
or
are you saying, My righteousness is more than God’s, |
| 3 | That you ask, What advantage have you? How am I profited more than if I had sinned? |
| 4 | I will answer you and your companions with you. |
| 5 | Look to the heavens and see; and behold the skies which are higher than you. |
| 6 | If you have sinned, how does that affect God? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him? |
| 7 | If you are righteous, what do you [by that] give God? Or what does He receive from your hand? |
| 8 | Your wickedness touches and affects a man such as you are, and your righteousness is for yourself, one of the human race [but it cannot touch God, Who is above such influence]. |
| 9 | Because of the multitudes of oppressions the people cry out; they cry for help because of the violence of the mighty. |
| 10 | But no one says, Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs of rejoicing in the night, |
| 11 | Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens? |
| 12 | [The people] cry out because of the pride of evil men, but He does not answer. |
| 13 | Surely God will refuse to answer [the cry which is] vanity (vain and empty—instead of abiding trust); neither will the Almighty regard it— |
| 14 | How much less when [missing His righteous judgment on earth] you say that you do not see Him, that your cause is before Him, and you are waiting for Him! |
| 15 | But now because God has not [speedily] punished in His anger and seems to be unaware of the wrong
and
oppression [of which a person is guilty], |
| 16 | Job uselessly opens his mouth and multiplies words without knowledge [drawing the worthless conclusion that the righteous have no more advantage than the wicked]. |
Cross references:
-
Job 35:10 : Acts 16:25.
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