| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Then Elihu answered: | 1Then Elihu said: |
| 2"Do you think this to be just: when you say, 'My right before God.' | 2“Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’? |
| 3But you say, 'What will it profit you,' and, 'What do I gain by not sinning?' | 3For you also ask, ‘What’s in it for me? What’s the use of living a righteous life?’ |
| 4I will reply to you, and to your friends with you. | 4“I will answer you and all your friends, too. |
| 5Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you! | 5Look up into the sky, and see the clouds high above you. |
| 6If you sin, how does it affect God? If your transgressions are many, what does it do to him? | 6If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him? |
| 7If you are righteous, what do you give to God, or what does he receive from your hand? | 7If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him? |
| 8Your wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people. | 8No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans. |
| 9"People cry out because of the excess of oppression; they cry out for help because of the power of the mighty. | 9“People cry out when they are oppressed. They groan beneath the power of the mighty. |
| 10But no one says, 'Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night, | 10Yet they don’t ask, ‘Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night? |
| 11who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?' | 11Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’ |
| 12Then they cry out--but he does not answer--because of the arrogance of the wicked. | 12And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. |
| 13Surely it is an empty cry--God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it. | 13But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned. |
| 14How much less, then, when you say that you do not perceive him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him! | 14You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait. |
| 15And further, when you say that his anger does not punish, and that he does not know transgression! | 15You say he does not respond to sinners with anger and is not greatly concerned about wickedness. |
| 16So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words." | 16But you are talking nonsense, Job. You have spoken like a fool.” |
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