^1. THEN Elihu continued and said,

^2. �Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, "My righteousness is more than God's'?

^3. �For you say, " What advantage will it be to [1] You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?'

^4. �I will answer you, And your friends with you. 5�Look at the heavens and see; And behold the clouds -- they are higher than you.

^6. �If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?

^7. �If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand?

^8. �Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man.

^9. �Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

^10. �But no one says, "Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night,

^11. Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?'

^12. �There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men.

^13. �Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it.

^14. �How much less when you say you do not behold Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

^15. �And now, because He has not visited in His anger, Nor has He acknowledged transgression well,

^16. So Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge.�