35 Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is just?
You say, ‘I am in the right,(A) not God.’(B)
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]
and what do I gain by not sinning?’(C)
4 “I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens(D) and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.(E)
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?(F)
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,(G)
or what does he receive(H) from your hand?(I)
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,(J)
and your righteousness only other people.(K)
9 “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
- Job 35:3 Or you
- Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
- Job 35:11 Or us wise by
- Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Cross references
- Job 35:2 : S Job 33:32
- Job 35:2 : S Job 2:9; S 32:2
- Job 35:3 : S Job 9:29-31; S 21:15
- Job 35:5 : S Ge 15:5; S Dt 10:14
- Job 35:5 : S Job 11:7-9; Ps 19:1-4
- Job 35:6 : S Job 7:20
- Job 35:7 : Ro 11:35
- Job 35:7 : 1Co 4:7
- Job 35:7 : S Job 22:2-3; Lk 17:10
- Job 35:8 : Eze 18:24
- Job 35:8 : Eze 18:5-9; Zec 7:9-10
- Job 35:9 : Ex 2:23
- Job 35:9 : S Job 20:19
- Job 35:9 : S Job 5:15; S 12:19
- Job 35:10 : S Job 4:17
- Job 35:10 : S Job 8:21
- Job 35:10 : Ps 42:8; 77:6; 119:62; 149:5; Ac 16:25
- Job 35:11 : S Job 21:22; Lk 12:24
- Job 35:11 : Job 12:7
- Job 35:12 : S 1Sa 8:18
- Job 35:12 : S Job 15:25
- Job 35:12 : Ps 66:18
- Job 35:13 : S Dt 1:45; S 1Sa 8:18; S Job 15:31; S Pr 15:8
- Job 35:14 : S Job 9:11
- Job 35:14 : Ps 37:6
- Job 35:14 : Job 31:35
- Job 35:15 : S Job 9:24
- Job 35:15 : S Job 18:5; Ps 10:11; Hos 7:2; Am 8:7
- Job 35:16 : Tit 1:10
- Job 35:16 : S Job 34:35, 37; 1Co 4:20; Jude 1:10