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35 Moreover Elihu answered and said,

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

For thou hast asked of what profit it is unto thee: what do I gain more than if I had sinned?

I will reply to thee in words, and to thy companions with thee.

Look unto the heavens and see; and survey the skies: they are higher than thou.

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

If thou be righteous, what givest thou to him? or what doth he receive of thy hand?

Thy wickedness [may affect] a man as thou [art], and thy righteousness a son of man.

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they 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 fowl of the heavens?

12 There they cry, and he answereth not, 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 dost not see him, judgment is before him, therefore wait for him.

15 But now, because he hath not visited in his anger, doth not [Job] know [his] great arrogancy?

16 For Job hath opened his mouth in vanity, and made words abundant without knowledge.

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.