Job 35

Elihu: What Do You Gain by Being Righteous?

1Elihu answered and said: 2“Do you think this is justice?
You say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’ 3for you ask, ‘What does it profit you?
What do I gain by not sinning?’ 4I will answer you
and your friends with you.

Look at the Heavens

5Look at the heavens and see;
behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 6If you sin, what do you accomplish against him?
If your transgressions multiply, what do you do to him? 7If you are righteous, what do you give him?
Or what does he receive from your hand? 8Your wickedness affects a human like yourself,
and your righteousness a son of man.

People Cry Out Under Oppression

9Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night, 11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 12There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil people. 13Surely God does not hear emptiness,
and the Almighty does not regard it.

Your Case Is Before Him

14How much less when you say you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you must wait for him. 15And now, because his anger has not visited
and he does not greatly recognize arrogance, 16Job opens his mouth in emptiness;
without knowledge he multiplies words.”