| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New Living Translation |
| 1Then Elihu continued and said, | 1Then Elihu said: |
| 2"Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's '? | 2“Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’? |
| 3"For you say, 'What advantage will it be to You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?' | 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 your friends with you. | 4“I will answer you and all your friends, too. |
| 5"Look at the heavens and see; And behold the clouds-- they are higher than you. | 5Look up into the sky, and see the clouds high above 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 that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him? |
| 7"If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand? | 7If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him? |
| 8"Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man. | 8No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans. |
| 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 when they are oppressed. They groan beneath the power of the mighty. |
| 10"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, | 10Yet they don’t ask, ‘Where is God my Creator, the one 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?' | 11Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’ |
| 12"There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men. | 12And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. |
| 13"Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it. | 13But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned. |
| 14"How much less when you say you do not behold Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him! | 14You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait. |
| 15"And now, because He has not visited in His anger, Nor has He acknowledged transgression well, | 15You say he does not respond to sinners with anger and is not greatly concerned about wickedness. |
| 16So Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge." | 16But you are talking nonsense, Job. You have spoken like a fool.” |
| 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 | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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