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Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness

35 Elihu continued and said:

‘Do you think this to be just?
    You say, “I am in the right before God.”
If you ask, “What advantage have I?
    How am I better off than if I had sinned?”
I will answer you
    and your friends with you.
Look at the heavens and see;
    observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
    And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
If you are righteous, what do you give to him;
    or what does he receive from your hand?
Your wickedness affects others like you,
    and your righteousness, other human beings.

‘Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
    they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10 But no one says, “Where is God my Maker,
    who gives strength in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,
    and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?”
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
    because of the pride of evildoers.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
    nor does the Almighty[a] regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him,
    that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
15 And now, because his anger does not punish,
    and he does not greatly heed transgression,[b]
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk,
    he multiplies words without knowledge.’

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:13 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
  2. Job 35:15 Theodotion Symmachus Compare Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain

35 Then Elihu said:

“Do you think this is just?
    You say, ‘I am in the right,(A) not God.’(B)
Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]
    and what do I gain by not sinning?’(C)

“I would like to reply to you
    and to your friends with you.
Look up at the heavens(D) and see;
    gaze at the clouds so high above you.(E)
If you sin, how does that affect him?
    If your sins are many, what does that do to him?(F)
If you are righteous, what do you give to him,(G)
    or what does he receive(H) from your hand?(I)
Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,(J)
    and your righteousness only other people.(K)

“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

  1. Job 35:3 Or you
  2. Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
  3. Job 35:11 Or us wise by
  4. Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.