35 以利户又说:
“你在上帝面前自以为义,
你认为这合理吗?
你还说,‘这与我何干?
我不犯罪又有何益处?’
我要答复你和你的朋友。
要抬头观看诸天,
瞻望头顶的穹苍。
你若犯罪,与上帝何妨?
你若罪恶累累,对祂有何影响?
你若为人公义,与祂何益?
祂从你手上能得什么好处?
你的罪恶只能伤害你的同类,
你的公义只能令世人受益。

“人们因饱受压迫而呼求,
因强权者的压制而求救。
10 但无人问,‘创造我的上帝在哪里?
祂使人夜间欢唱,
11 使我们比地上的走兽聪明,
比天上的飞鸟有智慧。’
12 他们因恶人的嚣张而呼求,
上帝却不回答。
13 上帝必不垂听虚妄的呼求,
全能者必不理会。
14 更何况你说你看不见祂,
你的案子已呈上,在等祂裁决。
15 你还说祂没有发怒降罚,
也不理会罪恶。
16 约伯啊,这尽是虚言,
是一大堆无知的话。”

Sin’s impact

35 Elihu continued:

Do you think it right?
    You say, “I’m more just than God.”
Yet you ask, “What does it benefit you?
    What have I gained by avoiding sin?”
I’ll answer you,
    and your friends along with you.
Look at the heavens and see;
    scan the clouds high over you.
If you’ve sinned, how have you affected God?
    Your offenses have multiplied;
    what have you done to him?
If you are righteous,
    what do you give to him?
    Or what does he receive from your hand?
Your evil affects others like you,
    and your righteousness affects fellow human beings.
People cry out because of heavy oppression;
    shout under the power of the mighty.
10 But no one says, “Where is God my maker;
    who gives songs in the night;
11     who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
    makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?”
12 Then they cry out; but he doesn’t answer,
    because of the pride of the wicked.
13 God certainly doesn’t respond to a deceitful cry;
    the Almighty doesn’t pay attention to it.
14 Although you say that you don’t see him,
    the case is before him;
    so wait anxiously for him.
15 Even though his anger is now held back,
    a person doesn’t know it’s only delayed.[a]
16 So Job mouths emptiness;
    he piles up ignorant words.

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:15 Heb uncertain

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.