Job 35

1 Then Elihu continued, saying,

Elihu spoke moreover, and said,

2 “Do you think it's honest to claim you are right before God?

Thinkest thou this to be right, [that] thou saidst, My righteousness [is] more than God's?

3 And you ask, ‘What benefit do I get? What good has it done me by not sinning?’

For thou saidst, What advantage will it be to thee? [and], What profit shall I have, [if I be cleansed] from my sin?

4 I'll tell you, and your friends too!

I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

5 Just look up at the sky and see. Observe the clouds high above you.

Look to the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [which] are higher than thou.

6 If you sin, how does that harm God? How do your many sins affect God?

If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or [if] thy transgressions are multiplied, what doest thou to him?

7 If you do what's right, what good are you doing for him?

If thou art righteous, what givest thou to him? or what receiveth he from thy hand?

8 No—your sins only affect people like yourself, and whatever good you do only affects them too.

Thy wickedness [may hurt] a man as thou [art]: and thy righteousness [may profit] the son of man.

9 People cry out because of terrible persecution; they call for someone to save them from their oppressors.

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make [the oppressed] to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

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

But none saith, Where [is] God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

11 who teaches us more than the animals, and makes us wiser than the birds?’

Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

12 When they call out for help, God doesn't answer because they are proud and evil people.

There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

13 God doesn't listen to their empty cries; the Almighty doesn't pay them any attention.

Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

14 How much less will God hear you when you say he can't see you? Your case is before him, so you have to wait for him.

Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, [yet] judgment [is] before him; therefore trust thou in him.

15 You're saying that God doesn't punish people in his anger and pays little attention to sin.

But now, because [it is] not [so], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth [it] not in great extremity:

16 You, Job, are talking nonsense, making long speeches when you know nothing!”

Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.