Elihu Condemns Job

Job 35

1 And Elihu answered and said:

2 "Do you think this to be just?
Do you say, v 'It is my right before God,'
3 that you ask, w 'What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
4 I will answer you
and x your friends with you.
5 y Look at the heavens, and see;
and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
6 If you have sinned, z what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 a If you are righteous, what do you give to him?
Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,
and your righteousness b a son of man.

9 "Because of the multitude of c oppressions people d cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of e the mighty. 1
10 But none says, 'Where is God my f Maker,
who gives g songs in the night,
11 who teaches us h more than the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?'
12 There they i cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you j do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are k waiting for him!
15 And now, because l his anger does not punish,
and he does not take much note of transgression, 2
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk;
he m multiplies words n without knowledge."

  1. Cross References
    Job 32:2
    Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
  2. Cross References
    Job 34:9
    For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.
  3. Cross References
    Job 34:8
    Who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?
    Job 34:36
    Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.
  4. Cross References
    Job 22:12
    Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
  5. Cross References
    Proverbs 8:36
    But he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.
    Jeremiah 7:19
    Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame?
  6. Cross References
    Job 22:2 - 3
    Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
    Proverbs 9:12
    If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
    Luke 17:10
    So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'
    Job 41:11
    Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
    Romans 11:35
    "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
  7. Cross References
    Job 25:6
    How much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!
  8. Cross References
    Amos 3:9
    Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 2:23
    During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
    Job 34:28
    So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted -
  10. Cross References
    Job 22:8
    The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it.
  11. Cross References
    Job 4:17
    Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
    Deuteronomy 32:6
    Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
  12. Cross References
    Psalms 42:8
    By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
    Psalms 77:6
    I said, "Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart." Then my spirit made a diligent search:
    Psalms 149:5
    Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.
    Acts 16:25
    About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
  13. Cross References
    Job 36:22
    Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?
    Psalms 94:12
    Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law.
    Isaiah 28:26
    For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.
  14. Cross References
    Job 27:9
    Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
  15. Cross References
    Job 9:11
    Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
    Job 23:8 - 9
    Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him.
  16. Cross References
    Job 13:15
    Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.
  17. Cross References
    Numbers 16:29
    If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me.
    Psalms 89:32
    Then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
  18. Cross References
    Job 34:37
    For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.
  19. Cross References
    Job 34:35
    'Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.'
    Job 36:12
    But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
    Job 38:2
    Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
    Job 42:3
    Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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