Job 35

1Elihu continued,

2“Job, do you think it’s fair for you to say, ‘I am the one who is right, not God’?

3You ask him, ‘What good is it for me not to sin? What do I get by not sinning?’

4“I’d like to reply to you and to your friends who are with you.

5Look up at the heavens. Observe the clouds that are high above you.

6If you sin, what does that mean to God? If you sin many times, what does that do to him?

7If you do what is right, how does that help him? What does he get from you?

8The evil things you do only hurt people like yourself. The right things you do only help other human beings.

9“People cry out when they are treated badly. They beg to be set free from the power of those who are over them.

10But no one says, ‘Where is the God who made me? He gives us songs even during the night.

11He teaches us more than he teaches the wild animals. He makes us wiser than the birds in the sky.’

12He doesn’t answer sinful people when they cry out to him. That’s because they are so proud.

13In fact, God doesn’t listen to their empty cries. The Mighty One doesn’t pay any attention to them.

14So he certainly won’t listen to you. When you say you don’t see him, he won’t hear you. He won’t listen when you state your case to him. He won’t pay attention even if you wait for him.

15When you say his anger never punishes sin, he won’t hear you. He won’t listen when you say he doesn’t pay any attention to evil. 16So you say things that don’t mean anything. You use a lot of words, but you don’t know what you are talking about.”