[1] And Elihu went on to say: [2] “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’ [3] For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’ [4] I will reply to you and to your friends as well. [5] Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. [6] If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, 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 affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man. [9] Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty. [10] But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night, [11] who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’ [12] There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. [13] Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it. [14] How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him, [15] and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly! [16] So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
