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Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness

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Elihu continued and said:

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“Do you think this to be just?

You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’

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If you ask, ‘What advantage have I?

How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

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I will answer you

and your friends with you.

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Look at the heavens and see;

observe the clouds, which are higher than you.

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If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

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If you are righteous, what do you give to him;

or what does he receive from your hand?

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Your wickedness affects others like you,

and your righteousness, other human beings.

 

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“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;

they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.

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But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

who gives strength in the night,

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who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,

and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’

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There they cry out, but he does not answer,

because of the pride of evildoers.

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Surely God does not hear an empty cry,

nor does the Almighty regard it.

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How much less when you say that you do not see him,

that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!

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And now, because his anger does not punish,

and he does not greatly heed transgression,

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Job opens his mouth in empty talk,

he multiplies words without knowledge.”