Job 35

1 After this, Eliu again spoke in this way:

And Elihu went on to say:

2 Does it seem right to you in your thoughts, that you should say, “I am more just than God?”

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

3 For you said, “Having done what is right does not please you,” and, “How will it benefit you, if I sin?”

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

4 And so, I will respond to your words, and to your friends who are with you.

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

5 Look up towards heaven and consider; also, think about the sky, which is higher than you.

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

6 If you sin, how will it hurt him? And if your iniquities are multiplied, what will you do against him?

If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?

7 Furthermore, if you act justly, what will you give him, or what will he receive from your hand?

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

8 Your impiety may hurt a man who is like you, though your justice may help the son of the man.

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

9 Because of the multitude of false accusers, they will cry out; and they will lament because of the strong arm of the tyrants.

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

10 Yet he has not said: “Where is God, who made me, who has given songs in the night,

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

11 who teaches us in addition to the beasts of the earth, and who educates us along with the birds of the air?”

who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’

12 There they will cry, and he will not heed them, because of the arrogance of the wicked.

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

13 Therefore, God does not hear in vain, and the Almighty will look into each and every case.

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

14 And so, when you say, “He does not examine,” be judged before him, but wait for him.

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,

15 For, at the present time, he does not bring forth his fury, nor does he punish sin exceedingly.

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

16 Therefore, Job has opened his mouth in vain and has multiplied words without knowledge.

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