| Berean Study Bible | New International Version |
| 1And Elihu went on to say: | 1Then Elihu said: |
| 2“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’ | 2"Do you think this is just? You say, 'I am in the right, not God.' |
| 3For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’ | 3Yet you ask him, 'What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning?' |
| 4I will reply to you and to your friends as well. | 4"I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. |
| 5Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. | 5Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. |
| 6If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him? | 6If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? |
| 7If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand? | 7If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? |
| 8Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man. | 8Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people. |
| 9Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty. | 9"People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. |
| 10But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night, | 10But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, 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 air?’ | 11who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?' |
| 12There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. | 12He does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. |
| 13Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it. | 13Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it. |
| 14How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him, | 14How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him, |
| 15and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly! | 15and further, that his anger never punishes and he does not take the least notice of wickedness. |
| 16So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.” | 16So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words." |
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