Job 35

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1} Then Elihu continued, saying:

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Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?

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For you ask, “What does it profit You,^(a)
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”^(A)

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I will answer you
and your friends with you.

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

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If you sin, how does it affect God?
If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to Him?

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If you are righteous, what do you give Him,
or what does He receive from your hand?^(B)

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Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness another human being.

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People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the arm of the mighty.^(C)

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But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,^(D)
who provides us with songs in the night,^(E)

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who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”^(F)

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There they cry out, but He does not answer,
because of the pride of evil men.^(G)

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Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—

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how much less when^(b) you complain^(c)
that you do not see Him,
that your case^(H) is before Him
and you are waiting^(I) for Him.

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But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and He does not pay attention to transgression,^(d)

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Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.^(J)

a. Job 35:3: Some emend to me

b. Job 35:14: Or How then can

c. Job 35:14: Lit say

d. Job 35:15: LXX, Vg; MT reads folly, or arrogance; Hb obscure

A. Job 35:3: Job 9:29; Job 21:15; Job 34:9

B. Job 35:7: Job 22:3; Job 41:11; Romans 11:35

C. Job 35:9: Exodus 2:23; Job 24:12; Job 34:28

D. Job 35:10: Deuteronomy 32:6; Isaiah 51:13; Jeremiah 2:8

E. Job 35:10: Psalm 42:8; Psalm 77:6; Acts 16:25

F. Job 35:11: Job 12:7; Matthew 6:26

G. Job 35:12: Proverbs 1:28; Isaiah 1:15

H. Job 35:14: Job 13:18; Job 23:4; Job 31:13

I. Job 35:14: Job 6:8; Job 13:13; Job 14:14

J. Job 35:16: Job 15:2; Job 21:22; Job 34:35