Job 35
1 Igitur Eliu haec rursum locutus est:
And Elihu went on to say:
2 Numquid aequa tibi videtur tua cogitatio, ut diceres: Iustior sum Deo?
“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
3 Dixisti enim: Non tibi placet quod rectum est: vel quid tibi proderit, si ego peccavero?
For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
4 Itaque ego respondebo sermonibus tuis, et amicis tuis tecum.
I will reply to you and to your friends as well.
5 Suspice caelum et intuere, et contemplare aethera quod altior te sit.
Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 Si peccaveris, quid ei nocebis? et si multiplicatae fuerint iniquitates tuae, quid facies contra eum?
If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
7 Porro si iuste egeris, quid donabis ei, aut quid de manu tua accipiet?
If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Homini, qui similis tui est, nocebit impietas tua: et filium hominis adiuvabit iustitia tua.
Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
9 Propter multitudinem calumniatorum clamabunt: et eiulabunt propter vim brachii tyrannorum.
Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
10 Et non dixit: Ubi est Deus, qui fecit me, qui dedit carmina in nocte,
But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night,
11 Qui docet nos super iumenta terrae, et super volucres caeli erudit nos.
who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
12 Ibi clamabunt, et non exaudiet, propter superbiam malorum.
There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
13 Non ergo frustra audiet Deus, et Omnipotens causas singulorum intuebitur.
Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
14 Etiam cum dixeris: Non considerat: iudicare coram illo, et expecta eum.
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 Nunc enim non infert furorem suum, nec ulciscitur scelus valde.
and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!
16 Ergo Iob frustra aperit os suum, et absque scientia verba multiplicat.
So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
