Elihu Reminds Job of God’s Justice

1Then Elihu said:

2“Do you think it is right for you to claim,

‘I am righteous before God’?

3For you also ask, ‘What’s in it for me?

What’s the use of living a righteous life?’

4“I will answer you

and all your friends, too.

5Look up into the sky,

and see the clouds high above you.

6If you sin, how does that affect God?

Even if you sin again and again,

what effect will it have on him?

7If you are good, is this some great gift to him?

What could you possibly give him?

8No, your sins affect only people like yourself,

and your good deeds also affect only humans.

9“People cry out when they are oppressed.

They groan beneath the power of the mighty.

10Yet they don’t ask, ‘Where is God my Creator,

the one who gives songs in the night?

11Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals

and wiser than the birds of the sky?’

12And when they cry out, God does not answer

because of their pride.

13But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen,

to say the Almighty isn’t concerned.

14You say you can’t see him,

but he will bring justice if you will only wait.a

15You say he does not respond to sinners with anger

and is not greatly concerned about wickedness.b

16But you are talking nonsense, Job.

You have spoken like a fool.”