1 | And Elihu made answer and said, |
2 | Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say, |
3 | What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong? |
4 | I will make answer to you and to your friends: |
5 | Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you. |
6 | If you have done wrong, is he any the worse for it? and if your sins are great in number, what is it to him? |
7 | If you are upright, what do you give to him? or what does he take from your hand? |
8 | Your evil-doing may have an effect on a man like yourself, or your righteousness on a son of man. |
9 | Because the hand of the cruel is hard on them, men are making sounds of grief; they are crying out for help because of the arm of the strong. |
10 | But no one has said, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night; |
11 | Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heaven? |
12 | There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer. |
13 | But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it; |
14 | How much less when you say that you do not see him; that the cause is before him, and you are waiting for him. |
15 | And now ... ; |
16 | And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge. |