Elihu condemns self-righteousness
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After this, Eliu again spoke in this way:
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Does it seem right to you in your thoughts, that you should say, “I am more just than God?”
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For you said, “Having done what is right does not please you,” and, “How will it benefit you, if I sin?”(a)
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And so, I will respond to your words, and to your friends who are with you.
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Look up towards heaven and consider; also, think about the sky, which is higher than you.
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If you sin, how will it hurt him? And if your iniquities are multiplied, what will you do against him?
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Furthermore, if you act justly, what will you give him, or what will he receive from your hand?
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Your impiety may hurt a man who is like you, though your justice may help the son of the man.
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Because of the multitude of false accusers, they will cry out; and they will lament because of the strong arm of the tyrants.
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Yet he has not said: “Where is God, who made me, who has given songs in the night,
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who teaches us in addition to the beasts of the earth, and who educates us along with the birds of the air?”
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There they will cry, and he will not heed them, because of the arrogance of the wicked.
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Therefore, God does not hear in vain, and the Almighty will look into each and every case.
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And so, when you say, “He does not examine,” be judged before him, but wait for him.
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For, at the present time, he does not bring forth his fury, nor does he punish sin exceedingly.
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Therefore, Job has opened his mouth in vain and has multiplied words without knowledge.
Footnotes