Elihu Recalls God’s Justice 1 UST Then Elihu continued to speak, and he said, BSB BSB: And Elihu went on to say:
2 UST “Job, it is not right for you to say that you have been doing what is right but God has been doing what is wrong. BSB BSB: “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
3 UST You are basically saying that when you ask,‘What good things have I received because I have not sinned? How am I better off than I would be if I had sinned?’ BSB BSB: For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
4 UST I will answer those questions for you, and I will also respond to what your three friends have said. BSB BSB: I will reply to you and to your friends as well.
5 UST Job, look up at the sky. See how high the clouds are above you!{ God is far higher than that!} BSB BSB: Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 UST So if you sin, that does not harm God at all. Even if you do many wrong things, that 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 UST On the other hand, if you do what is right, that does not make God better off. No, you are not giving God something that he does not already have. BSB BSB: If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
8 UST The only ones who suffer if you are wicked are other people. The only ones you might help by being good are other humans. BSB BSB: Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
9 UST People call for others to help them because of the many things that wicked people do that make them suffer. They call for help because of the things that powerful people do to oppress them. BSB BSB: Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
10 UST But people do not ask God, their Creator, to help them. People do not expect God to enable them to sing joyful songs because he has rescued them. BSB BSB: But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night,
11 UST People do not realize that God wants to teach them how to live wisely. God does that for people, not for wild animals or for the birds in the sky. BSB BSB: who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
12 UST Even when people do pray to God for help, God does not answer them, because they arrogantly continue to do what is wrong. BSB BSB: There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
13 UST God, the Almighty One, does not respond at all when people pray but do not really mean what they are saying. BSB BSB: Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
14 UST You are telling God that you have made your case against him but that you are still waiting for him to answer your accusations. You are saying that God has not been helping you. Since you say those things, you should certainly not expect God to respond to you! 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 UST You also say that God does not pay much attention when people commit sins, and so 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 UST My friends, you see that Job has said things that are completely useless. He says many things without knowing what he is talking about.” BSB BSB: So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
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