Job 35
1 And Elihu went on to say:
After this, Eliu again spoke in this way:
2 “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
Does it seem right to you in your thoughts, that you should say, “I am more just than God?”
3 For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
For you said, “Having done what is right does not please you,” and, “How will it benefit you, if I sin?”
4 I will reply to you and to your friends as well.
And so, I will respond to your words, and to your friends who are with you.
5 Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
Look up towards heaven and consider; also, think about the sky, which is higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
If you sin, how will it hurt him? And if your iniquities are multiplied, what will you do against him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
Furthermore, if you act justly, what will you give him, or what will he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
Your impiety may hurt a man who is like you, though your justice may help the son of the man.
9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
Because of the multitude of false accusers, they will cry out; and they will lament because of the strong arm of the tyrants.
10 But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night,
Yet he has not said: “Where is God, who made me, who has given songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
who teaches us in addition to the beasts of the earth, and who educates us along with the birds of the air?”
12 There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
There they will cry, and he will not heed them, because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
Therefore, God does not hear in vain, and the Almighty will look into each and every case.
14 How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,
And so, when you say, “He does not examine,” be judged before him, but wait for him.
15 and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!
For, at the present time, he does not bring forth his fury, nor does he punish sin exceedingly.
16 So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
Therefore, Job has opened his mouth in vain and has multiplied words without knowledge.
