Elihu condemns self-righteousness
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Moreover Elihu answered,
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“Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
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that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’
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I will answer you, and your companions with you.
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Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you.
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If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
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If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
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Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
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“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
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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 the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
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There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil men.
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Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it.
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How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
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But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance,
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therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”