Job 35
Complete Jewish Bible
35 Elihu went on to say:
2 “Are you so convinced you are right,
that you say, ‘I am more just than God’?
3 For you ask what advantage it is to you,
‘How do I gain from not sinning?’
4 “Here is my answer to you,
to you and to your friends:
5 Look at the heavens and see;
observe the skies, high above you.
6 If you sin, how do you hurt him?
If your crimes are many, how do you affect him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him?
What benefit does he get from you?
8 Your wickedness can affect only others like you,
and your righteousness only other human beings.
9 People cry out from under many oppressions;
they cry for help from under the fist of the mighty.
10 But no one asks, ‘Where is God my maker,
who causes glad songs to ring out at night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches wild animals
and makes us wiser than the birds in the air?’
12 They may cry out, but no one answers,
because of evil men’s pride.
13 For God will not listen to empty cries;
Shaddai pays no attention to them.
14 All the more when you say that you don’t see him!
Just be patient; he’s considering the matter.
15 But now, just because he doesn’t get angry and punish,
does it mean he doesn’t know what arrogance is?
16 So Iyov is being futile when he opens his mouth;
he is piling up words without knowledge.”
Job 35
King James Version
35 Elihu spake moreover, and said,
2 Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?
3 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
4 I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.
5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.
6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
8 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to 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 fowls of heaven?
12 There they cry, but none giveth answer, 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 shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
15 But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:
16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.