[1] Then Elihu said: [2] "Do you think this is fair? You say, 'God will show that I am right,' [3] but you also ask, 'What's the use? I don't gain anything by not sinning.' [4] "I will answer you and your friends who are with you. [5] Look up at the sky and see the clouds so high above you. [6] If you sin, it does nothing to God; even if your sins are many, they do nothing to him. [7] If you are good, you give nothing to God; he receives nothing from your hand. [8] Your evil ways only hurt others like yourself, and the good you do only helps other human beings. [9] "People cry out when they are in trouble; they beg for relief from powerful people. [10] But no one asks, 'Where is God, my Maker, who gives us songs in the night, [11] who makes us smarter than the animals of the earth and wiser than the birds of the air?' [12] God does not answer evil people when they cry out, because the wicked are proud. [13] God does not listen to their useless begging; the Almighty pays no attention to them. [14] He will listen to you even less when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him, that you must wait for him, [15] that his anger never punishes, and that he doesn't notice evil. [16] So Job is only speaking nonsense, saying many words without knowing what is true."
