English Standard Version ESV
New Living Translation NLT
1 And Elihu answered and said:
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Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God, ’
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“Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’?
3 that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned? ’
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For you also ask, ‘What’s in it for me? What’s the use of living a righteous life?’
4 I will answer you and your friends with you.
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“I will answer you and all your friends, too.
5 Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
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Look up into the sky, and see the clouds high above you.
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
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If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
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If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him?
8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.
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No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans.
9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
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“People cry out when they are oppressed. They groan beneath the power of the mighty.
10 But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
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Yet they don’t ask, ‘Where is God my Creator, the one 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? ’
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Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
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And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
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But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned.
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
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You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait.
15 And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,
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You say he does not respond to sinners with anger and is not greatly concerned about wickedness.
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge. ”
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But you are talking nonsense, Job. You have spoken like a fool.”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.