New International Version NIV
World English Bible WEB
1 Then Elihu said:
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Moreover Elihu answered,
2 “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
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"Do you think this to be your right, Or do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's,'
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,and what do I gain by not sinning?’
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That you ask, 'What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'
4 “I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you.
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I will answer you, And your companions with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you.
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Look to the heavens, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
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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 to him, or what does he receive from your hand?
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If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people.
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Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are; And your righteousness may profit a son of man.
9 “People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
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"By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
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But none says, 'Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’
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Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, And makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'
12 He does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked.
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There they cry, but none gives answer, Because of the pride of evil men.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it.
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Surely God will not hear an empty cry, Neither will the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him,
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How much less when you say you don't see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
15 and further, that his anger never punishes and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.
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But now, because he has not visited in his anger, Neither does he greatly regard arrogance.
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.”
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Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, And he multiplies words without knowledge."
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