Job 35  Complete Jewish Bible

35 Elihu went on to say:

² “Are you so convinced you are right,
that you say, ‘I am more just than God’?
³ For you ask what advantage it is to you,
‘How do I gain from not sinning?’

⁴ “Here is my answer to you,
to you and to your friends:
⁵ Look at the heavens and see;
observe the skies, high above you.
⁶ If you sin, how do you hurt him?
If your crimes are many, how do you affect him?
⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give him?
What benefit does he get from you?
⁸ Your wickedness can affect only others like you,
and your righteousness only other human beings.
⁹ People cry out from under many oppressions;
they cry for help from under the fist of the mighty.
¹⁰ But no one asks, ‘Where is God my maker,
who causes glad songs to ring out at night,
¹¹ who teaches us more than he teaches wild animals
and makes us wiser than the birds in the air?’
¹² They may cry out, but no one answers,
because of evil men’s pride.
¹³ For God will not listen to empty cries;
Shaddai pays no attention to them.
¹⁴ All the more when you say that you don’t see him!
Just be patient; he’s considering the matter.
¹⁵ But now, just because he doesn’t get angry and punish,
does it mean he doesn’t know what arrogance is?
¹⁶ So Iyov is being futile when he opens his mouth;
he is piling up words without knowledge.”