Job 35

Elihu’s Third Speech¹

35:1 Then Elihu answered:

35:2 “Do you think this to be² just:

when³ you say, ‘My right before God.’⁴

35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’⁵

and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’⁶

35:4 I⁷ will reply to you,⁸

and to your friends with you.

35:5 Gaze at the heavens and see;

consider the clouds, which are higher than you!⁹

35:6 If you sin, how does it affect God?¹⁰

If your transgressions are many,

what does it do to him?¹¹

35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God,

or what does he receive from your hand?

35:8 Your wickedness affects only¹² a person like yourself,

and your righteousness only other people.¹³

35:9 “People¹⁴ cry out

because of the excess of oppression;¹⁵

they cry out for help

because of the power¹⁶ of the mighty.¹⁷

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night,¹⁸

35:11 who teaches us¹⁹ more than²⁰ the wild animals of the earth,

and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

35:12 Then²¹ they cry out – but he does not answer –

because of the arrogance of the wicked.

35:13 Surely it is an empty cry²² – God does not hear it;

the Almighty does not take notice of it.

35:14 How much less, then,

when you say that you do not perceive him,

that the case is before him

and you are waiting for him!²³

35:15 And further,²⁴ when you say

that his anger does not punish,²⁵

and that he does not know transgression!²⁶

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose;²⁷

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Next Chapter