Job 35
Names of God Bible
Elihu Continues: I Will Answer You and Your Friends, Job
35 Elihu continued to speak to Job and his friends,
2 “Do you think this is right
when you say, ‘My case is more just than El’s,’
3 when you ask, ‘What benefit is it to you?’
and, ‘What would I gain by sinning?’
4 I will answer you and your friends.
Human Behavior Cannot Change God
5 “Look at the heavens and see.
Observe the clouds high above you.
6 If you’ve sinned, what effect can you have on God?
If you’ve done many wrongs, what can you do to him?
7 If you’re righteous, what can you give him,
or what can he get from you?
8 Your wickedness affects only someone like yourself.
Your righteousness affects only the descendants of Adam.
9 The weight of oppression makes them cry out.
The power of mighty people makes them call for help.
10 But no one asks,
‘Where is Eloah, my Creator,
who inspires songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches the animals of the earth,
who makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’
12 Then they cry out, but he doesn’t answer them
because of the arrogance of those evil people.
13 “Surely, El doesn’t listen to idle complaints.
Shadday doesn’t even pay attention to them.
14 Although you say that you pay attention to him,
your case is in front of him, but you’ll have to wait for him.
15 And now you say that his anger doesn’t punish anyone
and he isn’t too concerned about evil.[a]
16 Job opens his mouth for no good reason
and talks a lot without having any knowledge.”
Footnotes
- Job 35:15 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
Job 35
Living Bible
35 Elihu continued:
2-3 “Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I haven’t sinned, but I’m no better off before God than if I had’?
4 “I will answer you and all your friends too. 5 Look up there into the sky, high above you. 6 If you sin, does that shake the heavens and knock God from his throne? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have upon him? 7 Or if you are good, is this some great gift to him? 8 Your sins may hurt another man, or your good deeds may profit him. 9-10 The oppressed may shriek beneath their wrongs and groan beneath the power of the rich; yet none of them cry to God, asking, ‘Where is God my Maker who gives songs in the night 11 and makes us a little wiser than the animals and birds?’
12 “But when anyone does cry out this question to him, he never replies by instant punishment of the tyrants.[a] 13 But it is false to say he doesn’t hear those cries; 14-15 and it is even more false to say that he doesn’t see what is going on. He does bring about justice at last if you will only wait. But do you cry out against him because he does not instantly respond in anger? 16 Job, you have spoken like a fool.”
Footnotes
- Job 35:12 by instant punishment of the tyrants, or “because of man’s base pride.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.