1. Then Job’s three friends gave up trying to answer him, because he was so sure that he was innocent.
2. But there was a young man there named Elihu son of Barakel. He was a descendant of a man named Buz. Elihu was from the family of Ram. He became very angry because Job kept saying he was innocent—that he was right and God was wrong.
3. Elihu was also angry with Job’s three friends because they could not answer him, and yet they still considered him guilty of doing wrong.
4. Elihu was the youngest one there, so he had waited until everyone finished talking.
5. But when he saw that Job’s three friends had nothing more to say, his anger forced him to speak.
6. So here’s what Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said: “I am only a young man, and you are all older. That is why I was afraid to tell you what I think.
7. I thought to myself, ‘Older people should speak first. They have lived many years, so they have learned many things.’
8. But it is the spirit in people, the breath from God All-Powerful, that makes them understand.