Job 35
1 And Elihu answereth and saith: —
Then Elihu also said this:
2 This hast thou reckoned for judgment: Thou hast said — 'My righteousness [is] more than God's?'
“[Job, ] do you think that what you said is right/correct? You say, ‘God knows that I am innocent,’
3 For thou sayest, 'What doth it profit Thee! What do I profit from my sin?'
and you say [to God], ‘What good have I received for not sinning? What benefit have I received from that?’ [DOU, RHQ]
4 I return thee words, and thy friends with thee,
[Well, ] I will answer you, and I will answer your three friends, too.
5 Behold attentively the heavens — and see, And behold the clouds, They have been higher than thou.
“[Job], look up at the sky; look at the clouds that are high above you and realize [that God is far above everything].
6 If thou hast sinned, what dost thou against Him? And thy transgressions have been multiplied, What dost thou to Him?
If you have sinned, that does not [RHQ] harm God at all. If many times you do things that are wrong, that certainly does not [RHQ] affect him [DOU].
7 If thou hast been righteous, What dost thou give to Him? Or what from thy hand doth He receive?
And if you are righteous, does that help God? No, he is not benefited by anything that you do [DOU].
8 For a man like thyself [is] thy wickedness, And for a son of man thy righteousness.
It is other people who suffer because of the wicked things that you do, but by doing good things for people, you help them.
9 Because of the multitude of oppressions They cause to cry out, They cry because of the arm of the mighty.
“People cry out because of the many things that people do to others to (oppress them/treat them cruelly); they call for help because of the things that powerful people do [MTY] to them.
10 And none said, 'Where [is] God my maker? Giving songs in the night,
But (no one/none of them) calls out [to God], saying ‘Why does God, my creator, [not help me]? He [should] enable me to sing [joyful] songs, [instead of very sad songs, ] during the night.
11 Teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, Yea, than the fowl of the heavens He maketh us wiser.'
He [should be able to] teach us more than all the wild animals do; he [should] enable us to become wiser than [all] the birds are!’
12 There they cry, and He doth not answer, Because of the pride of evil doers.
People cry out [for help], but God does not answer them, because those who cry out are proud and evil people.
13 Surely vanity God doth not hear, And the Mighty doth not behold it.
It is useless for them to cry out, because God, the Almighty One, does not pay any attention to what they say.
14 Yea, though thou sayest thou dost not behold Him, Judgment [is] before Him, and stay for Him.
So, when you complain that you cannot see God, and you tell him that you are waiting for him [to decide whether or not you should be punished for what you have done], God will not listen to you, either!
15 And, now, because there is not, He hath appointed His anger, And He hath not known in great extremity.
Furthermore, [you say that] because he does not pay attention when people commit sins, he does not become angry and punish them.
16 And Job [with] vanity doth open his mouth, Without knowledge words he multiplieth.
You say things that are useless; you say a lot of things without knowing [what you are talking about].”
