Job 35

35Then Elihu said:

²“Do you think this is just?

You say, ‘I am in the right,^g not God.’^h

³Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,^a

and what do I gain by not sinning?’ⁱ

⁴“I would like to reply to you

and to your friends with you.

⁵Look up at the heavens^j and see;

gaze at the clouds so high above you.^k

⁶If you sin, how does that affect him?

If your sins are many, what does that do to him?^l

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

or what does he receiveⁿ from your hand?^o

⁸Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,^p

and your righteousness only other people.^q

⁹“People cry out^r under a load of oppression;^s

they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.^t

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

who gives songs^v in the night,^w

¹¹who teaches^x us^y more than he teaches^b the beasts of the earth

and makes us wiser than^c the birds in the sky?’

¹²He does not answer^z when people cry out

because of the arrogance^a of the wicked.^b

¹³Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;

the Almighty pays no attention to it.^c

¹⁴How much less, then, will he listen

when you say that you do not see him,^d

that your case^e is before him

and you must wait for him,^f

¹⁵and further, that his anger never punishes^g

and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.^dh

¹⁶So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;ⁱ

without knowledge he multiplies words.”^j