Chapter 35

¹Moreover Elihu answered,

²“Do you think this to be your right,

Or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’

³That you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you?

What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’

⁴I will answer you,

And your companions with you.

⁵Look to the heavens, and see.

See the skies, which are higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him?

If your transgressions are multiplied, 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 may hurt a man as you are;

And your righteousness may profit a son of man.

⁹“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰But none 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 sky?’

¹²There they cry, but none gives answer,

Because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Surely God will not hear an empty cry,

Neither will the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴How much less when you say you don’t see him.

The cause is before him, and you wait for him!

¹⁵But now, because he has not visited in his anger,

Neither does he greatly regard arrogance.

¹⁶Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk,

And he multiplies words without knowledge.”