Elihu Recalls God’s Justice

1And Elihu answered and said:

2“This do you reckon to be justice?

You say, ‘I am righteous above God.†’

3Indeed you say, ‘What does it benefit You?

What do I gain from my sin?”

4I will return to you the words,

and to your friends with you.

5Look to the heavens and see,

and behold the clouds—they are higher than you.

6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?

Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?

7If you are righteous, what do you give to Him?

Or what does He receive from your hand?

8Your wickedness is to a man such as you,

and your righteousness to a son of man.

9From the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

they cry for help from the arm of the mighty.

10Yet no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

the One giving songs in the night,

11teaching us more than the beasts of the earth,

and making us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

12There they cry out, but He does not answer,

from the face of the pride of evil ones.

13Surely God will not listen to vanity,

and Shaddai† will not regard it.

14Indeed, though you say that you do not see Him,

justice is before His face, and you must wait for Him.

15And now, because He does not visit His anger,

and has not taken much note of transgression,

16and Job opens his mouth in vain;

he multiplies words without knowledge.”