Job 35
Evangelical Heritage Version
35 Then Elihu continued:
2 Do you really think it is right when you say,
“My righteousness is greater than God’s”?[a]
3 You even say, “What use will this be to me?
How will it profit me more than if I sinned?”
4 But I will respond to your words—and to your friends with you!
5 Look at the heavens and you will see.
Take a good look at the clouds.
They are high above you!
6 If you have sinned, how does that affect God?
If your rebellious deeds are many, what harm can you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what are you giving to him?
What does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects a man like you,
and your righteousness only impacts other people.
9 They cry out because of severe oppression.
They scream for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,
who provides songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the wild animals on the earth,
who makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?”
12 Then the wicked cry out, but he does not answer,
because of their arrogant pride.[b]
13 Certainly God will not listen to an insincere[c] cry,
and the Almighty will not pay attention to it.
14 How much less when you say
that you do not see him,
that your case has been presented to him,
and that you are waiting for him!
15 Besides that, you say that his anger has not demanded an accounting,
and that he does not fully understand sin.[d]
16 Job opens his mouth pointlessly,
and he heaps up words without knowledge.
Job 35
Lexham English Bible
Elihu Condemns Job
35 Moreover,[a] Elihu spoke up[b] and said,
2 “Do you think this is justice when you say,
‘I am right[c] before God’?
3 If you ask what it profits you:
‘How do I benefit by refraining from my sin?’[d]
4 I myself[e] will give answer to you[f]
and to your friends with you.
5 “Look at the heavens, and see;
and observe the clouds that are higher than you.
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness affects humans.
9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions, they cry out;
they cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10 But[g] no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12 There they cry out, but[h] he does not answer
because of the pride of evildoers.[i]
13 “Surely God does not hear an empty plea,
and Shaddai does not regard it.
14 How much less[j] when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him,[k] and you are waiting for him!
15 But[l] now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not acknowledge the transgression at all,
16 therefore[m] Job opens his mouth in empty talk—
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
Footnotes
- Job 35:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 35:1 Literally “answered”; see NET
- Job 35:2 Literally “My righteousness”
- Job 35:3 Literally “from my sin”
- Job 35:4 Emphatic personal pronoun
- Job 35:4 Literally “will return you words”
- Job 35:10 Hebrew “And”
- Job 35:12 Hebrew “and”
- Job 35:12 Literally “from the face of the pride of evildoers”
- Job 35:14 Literally “Also for”
- Job 35:14 Literally “to the face of him”
- Job 35:15 Hebrew “And”
- Job 35:16 Hebrew “and,” or “so”
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