| New American Standard Bible 1995 | NET Bible |  
 | 1Then Elihu continued and said, | 1Then Elihu answered:  |   
| 2"Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's '? | 2"Do you think this to be just: when you say, 'My right before God.'  |   
| 3"For you say, 'What advantage will it be to You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?' | 3But you say, 'What will it profit you,' and, 'What do I gain by not sinning?'  |   
| 4"I will answer you, And your friends with you. | 4I will reply to you, and to your friends with you.  |   
| 5"Look at the heavens and see; And behold the clouds-- they are higher than you. | 5Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you!  |   
| 6"If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? | 6If you sin, how does it affect God? If your transgressions are many, what does it do to him?  |   
| 7"If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand? | 7If you are righteous, what do you give to God, or what does he receive from your hand?  |   
| 8"Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man. | 8Your wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people.  |   
| 9"Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. | 9"People cry out because of the excess of oppression; they cry out for help because of the power of the mighty.  |   
| 10"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, | 10But no one says, 'Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night,  |   
| 11Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?' | 11who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'  |   
| 12"There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men. | 12Then they cry out--but he does not answer--because of the arrogance of the wicked.  |   
| 13"Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it. | 13Surely it is an empty cry--God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it.  |   
| 14"How much less when you say you do not behold Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him! | 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!  |   
| 15"And now, because He has not visited in His anger, Nor has He acknowledged transgression well, | 15And further, when you say that his anger does not punish, and that he does not know transgression!  |   
| 16So Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge." | 16So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words."  |  
 | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. //netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |  
  |