Job 35

1 And Elihu went on to say:

And Elihu answers and says:

2 “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’

“Have you reckoned this for judgment [when] you have said, My righteousness [is] more than God’s?

3 For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’

For you say, What does it profit You? What do I profit from my sin?

4 I will reply to you and to your friends as well.

I return words, and your friends with you,

5 Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.

Behold attentively the heavens—and see, And behold the clouds, They have been 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 have sinned, what do you do against Him? And your transgressions have been multiplied, What do you do to Him?

7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

If you have been righteous, What do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?

8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.

For a man like yourself [is] your wickedness, And for a son of man your righteousness.

9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

Because of the multitude of oppressions They cause to cry out, They cry because of the arm of the mighty.

10 But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night,

And none said, Where [is] God my Maker? Giving 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?’

Teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, Indeed, He makes us wiser than the bird of the heavens.

12 There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

There they cry, and He does not answer, Because of the pride of evildoers.

13 Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

Surely God does not hear vanity, And the Mighty does not behold it.

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,

Indeed, though you say you do not behold Him, Judgment [is] before Him, and stays for Him.

15 and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!

And now, because there is not, He has appointed His anger, And He has not known in great extremity.

16 So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

And Job opens his mouth [with] vanity, He multiplies words without knowledge.”