¹Furthermore Elihu continued speaking and said,

²“Did you think it was justice when you said,

‘My righteousness is greater than that of God’?

³For you asked what benefit you had,

And you said,

‘What advantage is there to me in desisting from my sin?’

⁴I will reply to you with words

And to your companions with you.

⁵Look at the heavens and see,

And behold the clouds which are higher than you.

⁶If you sin,

What impact do you have on him?

And if your transgressions are many,

What effect do you have on him?

⁷If you are righteous,

What will you give him?

Or what will he accept from your hand?

⁸Your wicked deed is one thing to a man like yourself,

As is your righteousness to a son of Adam.

⁹Men may cry out on account of a multitude of oppressions;

They may shout out because of the power of the mighty,

¹⁰But no-one says,

‘Where is God my maker,

Who gives songs in dark times,

¹¹Who is our teacher of things beyond the cattle of the earth,

And who makes us wise in matters deeper than the birds of the sky?’

¹²There, they cry out,

But he does not answer them,

Because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Surely God does not hearken to vanity,

And the Almighty does not see it favourably.

¹⁴How much less when you would say to him,

‘You do not see it favourably.’

When judgment is taking place before him,

Wait for him.

¹⁵And now, you say that it is not in anger

That he visits men,

And that he does not acknowledge great excess.

¹⁶So Job has opened his mouth in vain,

And he has uttered many words without knowledge.”