Job 35

Then Elihu said:

“Do you think this is just?

You say, ‘I am in the right,^w not God.’^x

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

and what do I gain by not sinning?’^y

“I would like to reply to you

and to your friends with you.

Look up at the heavens^z and see;

gaze at the clouds so high above you.^a

If you sin, how does that affect him?

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

If you are righteous, what do you give to him,^c

or what does he receive^d from your hand?^e

Your wickedness only affects human beings like yourself,^f

and your righteousness only members of the human race.^g

“People cry out^h under a load of oppression;ⁱ

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

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

who gives songs^l in the night,^m

who teachesⁿ us^o more than he teaches the beasts of the earth

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

He does not answer^p when people cry out

because of the arrogance^q of the wicked.^r

Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;

the Almighty pays no attention to it.^s

How much less, then, will he listen

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

that your case^u is before him

and you must wait for him,^v

and further, that his anger never punishes^w

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

So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;^y

without knowledge he multiplies words.”^z