CHAPTER 35

¹And Elihu spoke up and he said:

                ²Is this what you count as justice,

                    you say, “I am more right than God”?

                ³That you should say, What use is it to you,

                    what shall I gain from my offense?

                ⁴I will answer you in words,

                    and your companions with you.

                ⁵Look to the heavens and see,

                    and the sky that is high above you.

                ⁶If you offended, how do you affect Him,

                    if your crimes be many, what do you do to Him?

                ⁷If you’re in the right, what do you give Him,

                    or what could He take from your hand?

                ⁸On a man like yourself your wickedness acts,

                    and on a human being your righteousness.

                ⁹From much oppression they cry out,

                    call for help from the arm of the powerful.

                ¹⁰And none says, “Where is God my Maker,

                    Who gives us melodies in the night,

                ¹¹instructs us more than the beasts of the earth,

                    makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?”

                ¹²Then they cried out—and He did not answer—

                    from evil men’s haughtiness.

                ¹³But to falseness God will not listen,

                    and Shaddai will not behold it.

                ¹⁴How much more, when you say, you don’t behold Him,

                    the case is before Him and you await it,

                ¹⁵and now, His wrath requites nothing,

                    and He knows nothing of any crime.

                ¹⁶And Job—with mere breath he opens his mouth.

                    Devoid of knowledge, he heaps up words.