Elihu Recalls God’s Justice 1 UDB Then Elihu also said this: BSB BSB: And Elihu went on to say:
2 UDB "Job, do you really think that you have done nothing wrong? You say, 'God knows that I am innocent,' BSB BSB: “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
3 UDB and you also say, 'What good have I received for not sinning? What benefit have I received that I would not have had, even if I had sinned?' BSB BSB: For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
4 UDB Well, I will answer you, and I will answer your three friends, too. BSB BSB: I will reply to you and to your friends as well.
5 UDB Job, look up at the sky; look at the clouds that are high above you and realize that God is far above everything, entirely out of your reach. BSB BSB: Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 UDB If you have sinned, that cannot harm God at all. Even if you do wrong things many, many times, that certainly does not hurt him. BSB BSB: If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
7 UDB In the same way, if you are righteous, does that help God? No, nothing you do can help him. BSB BSB: If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
8 UDB It is other people who can suffer because of the wicked things that you do; In the same way, you might help others if you do good things for them. BSB BSB: Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
9 UDB People cry out because of the many things that others do to make them suffer; they call for help because of the things that powerful people do to them. BSB BSB: Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
10 UDB But no one calls out to God and says, 'Why does God, my creator, not help me? He should enable me to sing joyful songs, instead of very sad songs, during the night. BSB BSB: But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night,
11 UDB He should be able to teach us more than he teaches the wild animals; he should enable us to become wiser than all the birds are!' BSB BSB: who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
12 UDB People cry out for help, but God does not answer them because those who cry out are proud and evil people. BSB BSB: There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
13 UDB It is useless for them to cry out because God, the Almighty One, does not pay any attention to what they say. BSB BSB: Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
14 UDB So when you complain that you cannot see God, and you tell him that you are waiting for him to decide whether or not you have done wrong, he will not listen to you, either! BSB BSB: 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 UDB Furthermore, you say that because he does not pay attention when people commit sins, he does not become angry and punish them. BSB BSB: and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!
16 UDB My friends, you see that Job has said things that are completely useless, that he says many things without knowing what in the world he is talking about." BSB BSB: So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
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