Job 35

Elihu went on speaking. He said:

1Elihu spake moreover, and said,

NoteElihu is the fourth and last of Job's human visitors, a younger man who has been speaking since chapter 32, after the three older friends fell silent. This chapter continues a single long speech; "went on speaking" marks a new section, not a new conversation.

2Do you think this is right? You have said, "I am more in the right than God is."

2Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?

NoteElihu is putting words in Job's mouth, a debating summary rather than a direct quotation. Job has claimed to be in the right (as in 13:18 and 27:5–6), but never said in so many words that he was more righteous than God. The Hebrew phrase itself is ambiguous: it can mean "my righteousness is greater than God's" or "I am in the right before God."

3For you ask, "What good does it do you? What do I gain if I am cleaned of my sin?"

3For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?

NoteThe pronouns shift oddly here in the Hebrew, "what does it profit you" and then "what do I gain", which is why translations differ over who is speaking to whom. The second half is also ambiguous: the Hebrew reads literally "more than my sin," so it can mean either "what do I gain by being cleansed of my sin?" or "what better off am I than if I had sinned?"

4I will give you an answer, and your friends along with you.

4I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

Note"Your friends" are Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, the three men who came to comfort Job and then spent chapters arguing that his suffering must be punishment for wrongdoing.

5Look up at the heavens and see. Look closely at the clouds, which are far higher than you are.

5Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

6If you sin, what have you done to him? If your wrongs pile up higher and higher, what does that do to him?

6If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

7If you live right, what have you given him? What does he receive from your hand?

7If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

8Your wrongdoing can hurt a man like yourself, and your right living can help another human being.

8Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

Note"Son of man" in the King James is a Hebrew idiom meaning simply a human being, a member of the human race. It carries no special title or rank here.

9People are crushed by so much cruel treatment that they cry out. They call for help because of the strength of powerful men.

9By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

Note"The arm of the mighty" uses arm as the standard Hebrew image for force or power, the way English says "strong-arm." The picture is of powerful people using their strength against those who cannot resist.

10But no one says, "Where is God my Maker, the one who gives us songs in the night,

10But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

Note"Songs in the night", night is the usual Hebrew image for a time of distress or trouble, not merely the hours of darkness. Some scholars read the Hebrew word behind "songs" as a similar word meaning "strength" or "protection," which would give "who gives us strength in the night."

11who teaches us more than he teaches the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?"

11Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

NoteThe Hebrew particle here can mean either "more than" or "by means of," so the line reads either "teaches us more than he teaches the animals" or "teaches us by means of the animals": that is, through what can be learned from watching them. Both readings are old and neither can be ruled out.

12There they cry out, but no one answers, because the evil men are proud.

12There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

Note"There" is vague in the Hebrew too, most likely meaning "in that situation," under the oppression just described. The Hebrew also does not say who fails to answer; it says only that no answer comes, which translators supply either as "no one answers" or "he does not answer."

13God will not listen to an empty cry. The Almighty pays no attention to it.

13Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

Note"Vanity" in 1611 English meant emptiness or worthlessness, not conceit or self-admiration; the sense is a cry that is hollow or not seriously meant. "The Almighty" translates Shaddai, an ancient title for God used far more often in Job than anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible; its original meaning is uncertain.

14Even though you say you cannot see him, your case lies before him, so wait for him.

14Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

Note"Judgment" in the King James here means a legal case or cause (the matter you have brought), not a verdict against you. The picture is of Job's complaint lying filed before a judge. And where the King James says "trust," the Hebrew verb means to wait or hold out for someone, with the sense of expecting them to act.

15But now, since that is not so, his anger has come and punished; and yet he takes little notice of the great wrong that is done.

15But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

NoteThis verse is the most damaged and disputed in the chapter; the Hebrew is obscure and ancient versions already disagreed about it. The word the King James renders "extremity" occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible and nobody knows what it means, guesses include "folly," "arrogance," "transgression" and "abundance." "Visited" in the King James means called someone to account, that is, punished. Any translation of this verse, including the one beside it, is a reasoned guess.

16So Job opens his mouth for nothing. He piles up words without knowing what he is talking about.

16Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.