Elihu addresses Job by name: However, Job, please hear my speech. He presents himself as an equal. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay. My terror will not make you afraid.
Elihu summarizes Job's complaint: Job says he is clean and that God counts him for His enemy. Elihu replies, Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man. Why do you strive against him, because he doesn't give account of any of his matters? Elihu is right that Job has spoken too boldly about God, and God will also say this in 38:2.
Elihu adds a new idea: suffering can be God's voice. For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention. God speaks in a dream, in a vision of the night, to withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from him. He keeps back his soul from the pit. He speaks through pain too, and if there is a messenger to show what is right, God is gracious. The rescued man sings, He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life will see the light. Elihu's view that suffering can teach and refine is closer to the truth than the friends' view that suffering always punishes.