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Then Elihu said:
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"Do you think this is just?
You say, 'I am in the right, not God.'
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Yet you ask him, 'What profit is it to me, 1
and what do I gain by not sinning?'
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"I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
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Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
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If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that 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 only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
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"People cry out under a load of oppression;
they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
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But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
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who teaches us more than he teaches 2 the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than 3 the birds in the sky?'
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He does not answer when people cry out
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
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Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
the Almighty pays no attention to it.
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How 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,
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and further, that his anger never punishes
and he does not take the least notice of wickedness. 4
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So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
without knowledge he multiplies words."