Job 35

35Then Elihu continued, saying:

²Do you think it is just when you say,

“I am righteous before God”?

³For you ask, “What does it profit you,^C

and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”ⁱ

⁴I will answer you

and your friends with you.

⁵Look at the heavens and see;

gaze at the clouds high above you.

⁶If you sin, how does it affect God?

If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give him,

or what does he receive from your hand?^j

⁸Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,

and your righteousness, a son of man.^A

⁹People cry out because of severe oppression;

they shout for help because of the power of the mighty.^k

¹⁰But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,^l

who provides us with songs in the night,^m

¹¹who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth

and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”ⁿ

¹²There they cry out, but he does not answer,

because of the pride of evil people.^o

¹³Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,

and the Almighty does not take note of it—

¹⁴how much less when^B you complain^C

that you do not see him,

that your case^a is before him

and you are waiting^b for him.

¹⁵But now, because God’s anger does not punish

and he does not pay attention to transgression,^D

¹⁶Job opens his mouth in vain

and multiplies words without knowledge.^c