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Elihu Sharply Reproves Job

35 Elihu continued speaking [to Job] and said,


“Do you think this is according to [your] justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?

“For you say, ‘What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]?
What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?’

“I will answer you,
And your companions with you.

“Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the skies which are [much] higher than you.

“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him?

“If you are righteous, what do you give God,
Or what does He receive from your hand?

“Your wickedness affects only a man such as you,
And your righteousness affects only [a]a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign].


“Because of the multitudes of oppressions the people cry out;
They cry for help because of the [violent] arm of the mighty.
10 
“But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs [of rejoicing] in the night,(A)
11 
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12 
“The people cry out, but He does not answer
Because of the pride of evil men.
13 
“Surely God will not listen to an empty cry [which lacks trust],
Nor will the Almighty regard it.
14 
“Even though you say that you do not see Him [when missing His righteous judgment on earth],
Yet your case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!
15 
“And now, because He has not [quickly] punished in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression and arrogance well [and seems unaware of the wrong of which a person is guilty],
16 
Job uselessly opens his mouth
And multiplies words without knowledge [drawing the worthless conclusion that the righteous have no more advantage than the wicked].”

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:8 I.e. a human being.

35 Then Elihu said:

“Do you think this is just?
    You say, ‘I am in the right,(A) not God.’(B)
Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]
    and what do I gain by not sinning?’(C)

“I would like to reply to you
    and to your friends with you.
Look up at the heavens(D) and see;
    gaze at the clouds so high above you.(E)
If you sin, how does that affect him?
    If your sins are many, what does that do to him?(F)
If you are righteous, what do you give to him,(G)
    or what does he receive(H) from your hand?(I)
Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,(J)
    and your righteousness only other people.(K)

“People cry out(L) under a load of oppression;(M)
    they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.(N)
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,(O)
    who gives songs(P) in the night,(Q)
11 who teaches(R) us(S) more than he teaches[b] the beasts of the earth
    and makes us wiser than[c] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer(T) when people cry out
    because of the arrogance(U) of the wicked.(V)
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
    the Almighty pays no attention to it.(W)
14 How much less, then, will he listen
    when you say that you do not see him,(X)
that your case(Y) is before him
    and you must wait for him,(Z)
15 and further, that his anger never punishes(AA)
    and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[d](AB)
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;(AC)
    without knowledge he multiplies words.”(AD)

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:3 Or you
  2. Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
  3. Job 35:11 Or us wise by
  4. Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.