Job 35 Expanded Bible
35 Then Elihu answered:
2 “Do you think this is ·fair [just]?
You say, ‘·God will show that I am right [or I am more right than God],’
3 but you also ask, ‘What’s the use?
·I don’t gain [L How have I gained…?] anything by not sinning.’
4 “I will answer you
and your friends who are with you.
5 Look up at the ·sky [L heavens and see]
and observe the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, it does nothing to ·God [L him];
even if your ·sins [transgressions] are many, they do nothing to him.
7 If you are ·good [right; righteous], ·you give nothing [L what would you give…?] to God;
·he receives nothing [L what would he receive…?] from your hand.
8 Your ·evil ways [wickedness] only ·hurt [or influence] others like yourself,
and ·the good you do [your righteousness] only ·helps [or influences] other human beings.
9 “·People [L They] cry out ·when they are in trouble [due to their many oppressions];
they ·beg for relief [shout for help] ·from powerful people [L because of the arm of the strong].
10 But no one asks, ‘Where is God, my Maker,
who gives us ·songs [or strength] in the night,
11 who ·makes us smarter [or teaches us more] than the animals of the earth
and wiser than the birds of the ·air [heavens]?’
12 He does not answer evil people when they cry out,
because the wicked are proud.
13 God does not listen to their useless begging;
the Almighty pays no attention to them.
14 ·He will listen to you even [L How much] less
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him,
that you must wait for him,
15 that his anger never punishes,
and that he doesn’t notice evil.
16 So Job is only speaking ·nonsense [meaningless things],
saying many words ·without knowing what is true [ignorantly].”
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
