¹ Then Elihu continued and said, ² “Do you think this is according to justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’? ³ “For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’ ⁴ “I will answer you,
And your friends with you. ⁵ “Look at the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds—they are higher than you. ⁶ “If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? ⁷ “If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,
Or what does He receive from your hand? ⁸ “Your wickedness is for a man like yourself,
And your righteousness is for a son of man. ⁹ “Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. ¹⁰ “But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs 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 “There they cry out, but He does not answer
Because of the pride of evil men. ¹³ “Surely God will not listen to an empty cry,
Nor will the Almighty regard it. ¹⁴ “How much less when you say you do not behold Him,
The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him! ¹⁵ “And now, because He has not visited in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression well, ¹⁶ So Job opens his mouth emptily;
He multiplies words without knowledge.”