Job 35

1 And Elihu answers and says:

And Elihu made answer and said,

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

Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say,

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

What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong?

4 I return words, and your friends with you,

I will make answer to you and to your friends:

5 Behold attentively the heavens—and see, And behold the clouds, They have been higher than you.

Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you.

6 If you have sinned, what do you do against Him? And your transgressions have been multiplied, What do you do to Him?

If you have done wrong, is he any the worse for it? and if your sins are great in number, what is it to him?

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

If you are upright, what do you give to him? or what does he take from your hand?

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

Your evil-doing may have an effect on a man like yourself, or your righteousness on a son of man.

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

Because the hand of the cruel is hard on them, men are making sounds of grief; they are crying out for help because of the arm of the strong.

10 And none said, Where [is] God my Maker? Giving songs in the night,

But no one has said, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night;

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

Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heaven?

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

There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer.

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

But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it;

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

How much less when you say that you do not see him; that the cause is before him, and you are waiting for him.

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

And now ...;

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

And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge.