NET Bible

Elihu’s Third Speech1

^35:1 Then Elihu answered:

^35:2 “Do you think this to be just when you say, ‘My right before God’? ^35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ ^35:4 I will reply to you, and to your friends with you. ^35:5 Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you. ^35:6 If you sin, how does it affect God? If your transgressions are many, what does it do to him? ^35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God, or what does he receive from your hand? ^35:8 Your wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people. ^35:9 “People cry out because of the excess of oppression; they cry out for help because of the power of the mighty. ^35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night, ^35:11 who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ ^35:12 Then they cry out—but he does not answer— because of the arrogance of the wicked. ^35:13 Surely it is an empty cry —God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it. ^35:14 How much less, then, when you say that you do not perceive him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him! ^35:15 And further, when you say that his anger does not punish, and that he does not know transgression! ^35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words.”