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Elihu Condemns Job

35 And Elihu answered and said:

“Do you think this to be just?
    Do you say, (A)‘It is my right before God’,
that you ask, (B)‘What advantage have I?
    How am I better off than if I had sinned?’
I will answer you
    and (C)your friends with you.
(D)Look at the heavens, and see;
    and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
If you have sinned, (E)what do you accomplish against him?
    And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
(F)If you are righteous, what do you give to him?
    Or what does he receive from your hand?
Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,
    and your righteousness (G)a son of man.
“Because of the multitude of (H)oppressions people (I)cry out;
    they call for help because of the arm of (J)the mighty.[a]
10 But none says, ‘Where is God my (K)Maker,
    who gives (L)songs in the night,
11 who teaches us (M)more than the beasts of the earth
    and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12 There they (N)cry out, but he does not answer,
    because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
    nor does the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you (O)do not see him,
    that the case is before him, and you are (P)waiting for him!
15 And now, because (Q)his anger does not punish,
    and he does not take much note of transgression,[b]
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk;
    he (R)multiplies words (S)without knowledge.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:9 Or the many
  2. Job 35:15 Theodotion, Symmachus (compare Vulgate); the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

35 Elihu spake moreover, and said,

Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?

For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?

I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

10 But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

12 There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

15 But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.