1 Elihu continued:
2 Do you think it right?You say, "I’m more just than God."
3 Yet you ask, "What does it benefit you?What have I gained by avoiding sin?"
4 I’ll answer you,and your friends along with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;scan the clouds high over you.
6 If you’ve sinned, how have you affected God?Your offenses have multiplied;what have you done to him?
7 If you are righteous,what do you give to him?Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your evil affects others like you,and your righteousness affects fellow human beings.
9 People cry out because of heavy oppression;shout under the power 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,makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?"
12 Then they cry out; but he doesn’t answer,because of the pride of the wicked.
13 God certainly doesn’t respond to a deceitful cry;the Almighty doesn’t pay attention to it.
14 Although you say that you don’t see him,the case is before him;so wait anxiously for him.
15 Even though his anger is now held back,a person doesn’t know it’s only delayed.
16 So Job mouths emptiness;he piles up ignorant words.