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Elihu’s Third Speech[a]

35 Then Elihu answered:

“Do you think this to be[b] just
when[c] you say, ‘My right before God’?[d]
But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’[e]
and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 35:1 sn This short speech falls into two sections: Elihu refutes Job’s claim that goodness avails nothing (35:2-8), asserting that when the cry of the afflicted goes unanswered they have not learned their lesson (35:9-16).
  2. Job 35:2 tn The line could be read as “do you reckon this for justice? Here “to be” is understood.
  3. Job 35:2 tn The word “when” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
  4. Job 35:2 tn The brief line could be interpreted in a number of ways. The MT simply has “my right from God.” It could be “I am right before God,” “I am more just/right than God” (identifying the preposition as a comparative min (מִן); cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 463), “I will be right before God,” or “My just cause against God.”
  5. Job 35:3 tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.
  6. Job 35:3 tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”

35 Moreover Elihu answered and said,

Thinkest thou this to be thy right,
Or sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God’s,
That thou sayest, What advantage will it be unto thee?
And, What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?

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