Job 35
1 Igitur Eliu haec rursum locutus est:
And Elihu made answer and said,
2 Numquid aequa tibi videtur tua cogitatio, ut diceres: Iustior sum Deo?
Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say,
3 Dixisti enim: Non tibi placet quod rectum est: vel quid tibi proderit, si ego peccavero?
What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong?
4 Itaque ego respondebo sermonibus tuis, et amicis tuis tecum.
I will make answer to you and to your friends:
5 Suspice caelum et intuere, et contemplare aethera quod altior te sit.
Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you.
6 Si peccaveris, quid ei nocebis? et si multiplicatae fuerint iniquitates tuae, quid facies contra eum?
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 Porro si iuste egeris, quid donabis ei, aut quid de manu tua accipiet?
If you are upright, what do you give to him? or what does he take from your hand?
8 Homini, qui similis tui est, nocebit impietas tua: et filium hominis adiuvabit iustitia tua.
Your evil-doing may have an effect on a man like yourself, or your righteousness on a son of man.
9 Propter multitudinem calumniatorum clamabunt: et eiulabunt propter vim brachii tyrannorum.
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 Et non dixit: Ubi est Deus, qui fecit me, qui dedit carmina in nocte,
But no one has said, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night;
11 Qui docet nos super iumenta terrae, et super volucres caeli erudit nos.
Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heaven?
12 Ibi clamabunt, et non exaudiet, propter superbiam malorum.
There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer.
13 Non ergo frustra audiet Deus, et Omnipotens causas singulorum intuebitur.
But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it;
14 Etiam cum dixeris: Non considerat: iudicare coram illo, et expecta eum.
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 Nunc enim non infert furorem suum, nec ulciscitur scelus valde.
And now ...;
16 Ergo Iob frustra aperit os suum, et absque scientia verba multiplicat.
And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge.
