New Revised Standard NRS
Common English Bible CEB
1 Elihu continued and said:
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Elihu continued:
2 "Do you think this to be just? You say, "I am in the right before God.'
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Do you think it right? You say, "I'm more just than God."
3 If you ask, "What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
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Yet you ask, "What does it benefit you? What have I gained by avoiding sin?"
4 I will answer you and your friends with you.
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I'll answer you, and your friends along with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see; observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
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Look at the heavens and see; scan the clouds high over 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'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?
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If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects others like you, and your righteousness, other human beings.
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Your evil affects others like you, and your righteousness affects fellow human beings.
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 because of heavy oppression; shout under the power of the mighty.
10 But no one says, "Where is God my Maker, who gives strength in the night,
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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 air?'
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who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?"
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.
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Then they cry out; but he doesn't answer, because of the pride of the wicked.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
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God certainly doesn't respond to a deceitful cry; the Almighty doesn't pay attention to it.
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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Although you say that you don't see him, the case is before him; so wait anxiously for him.
15 And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not greatly heed transgression,
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Even though his anger is now held back, a person doesn't know it's only delayed.
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk, he multiplies words without knowledge."
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So Job mouths emptiness; he piles up ignorant words.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible