Job 35

1 And Elihu went on to say:

2 “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’

3 For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’

4 I will reply to you and to your friends as well.

5 Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.

6 If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?

7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.

9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

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

11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’

12 There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

13 Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

14 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 and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly!

16 So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

1 ¶ Elihu spake moreover, and said,

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

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

4 I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

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

6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or [if] thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 And Elihu answered and said:

2 Seest thou that it is right for thee to say, I am righteous above God?

3 For thou sayest, Who is worth anything with thee? What profit is it, if I make myself without sin?

4 I will answer thee a word, and thy friends with thee.

5 Look toward heaven, and behold, and behold the clouds, that they are too high for thee.

6 If thou sin, what canst thou do unto him? And if thine iniquity be much, what canst thou do to him?

7 And if thou be righteous, what canst thou give him, or what will he take from thy hands?

8 A man as thou art may thy wickedness do, and a man's child thy righteousness.

9 Let them cry out when much violence is done unto them, and cry over the arm of the great,

10 who do not ask, where is God, my Creator, who makes the singing in the night,

11 Who maketh us more learned than the cattle of the earth, and wiser than the fowls of the air?

12 But they also shall cry out against the pride of the wicked, and he shall not hear them.

13 For God will not hear the vain, and the Almighty will not look upon it.

14 For this thou sayest, Thou shalt not see him. But there is a judgment before him: wait thou only for him,

15 If his wrath be not soon visited, and if it be not accepted that there be so many vices.

16 Wherefore Job hath opened his mouth in vain, and pretendeth to be a proud man with a foolish mind.