Elihu Reminds Job of God’s Justice
1 Moreover Elihu answered,
2 “Do you think this to be your right,
or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
3 that you ask, ‘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 companions with you.
5 Look to the heavens and see.
Consider the clouds, which are high above you.
6 If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him?
If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him?
Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness may hurt a man like yourself,
and your righteousness may profit a man.
9 Because of all the oppression, people 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 animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
12 There they cry, but no one answers,
because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God will not hear an empty cry,
nor will the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say you do not see him.
The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
15 But now, because in his anger he does not punish,
does he not greatly regard arrogance?
16 Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk,
and he multiplies words without knowledge.”