35:1 | Then Elihu said: |
35:2 | "Do you think this is just? You say, 'I will be cleared by God.' |
35:3 | Yet you ask him, 'What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning?' |
35:4 | "I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. |
35:5 | Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. |
35:6 | If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? |
35:7 | If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? |
35:8 | Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men. |
35:9 | "Men cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. |
35:10 | But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, |
35:11 | who teaches more to us than to the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?' |
35:12 | He does not answer when men cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. |
35:13 | Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it. |
35:14 | How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him, |
35:15 | and further, that his anger never punishes and he does not take the least notice of wickedness. |
35:16 | So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words." |
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