Job 35

Elihu Condemns Job

35Moreover,^a Elihu spoke up^b and said,

²“Do you think this is justice when you say,

‘I am right^c before God’?

³If you ask what it profits you:

‘How do I benefit by refraining from my sin?’^d

⁴I myself^e will give answer to you^f

and to your friends with you.

⁵“Look at the heavens, and see;

and observe the clouds that are higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

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

or what does he receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,

and your righteousness affects humans.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions, they cry out;

they cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰But^g no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

who gives songs in the night,

¹¹who teaches us more than the animals of the earth

and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

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

because of the pride of evildoers.ⁱ

¹³“Surely God does not hear an empty plea,

and Shaddai does not regard it.

¹⁴How much less^j when you say that you do not see him,

that the case is before him,^k and you are waiting for him!

¹⁵But^l now, because his anger does not punish,

and he does not acknowledge the transgression at all,

¹⁶therefore^m Job opens his mouth in empty talk—

without knowledge he multiplies words.”