Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 35 as rendered by/in  Next→ 



35:1  Then Elihu said:
35:2  "Do you think it is right for you to claim, 'I am righteous before God'?
35:3  For you also ask, 'What's in it for me? What's the use of living a righteous life?'
35:4  "I will answer you and all your friends, too.
35:5  Look up into the sky, and see the clouds high above you.
35:6  If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?
35:7  If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him?
35:8  No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans.
35:9  "People cry out when they are oppressed. They groan beneath the power of the mighty.
35:10  Yet they don't ask, 'Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night?
35:11  Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?'
35:12  And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride.
35:13  But it is wrong to say God doesn't listen, to say the Almighty isn't concerned.
35:14  You say you can't see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait.
35:15  You say he does not respond to sinners with anger and is not greatly concerned about wickedness.
35:16  But you are talking nonsense, Job. You have spoken like a fool."