Job 35 · ESV Study Bible

Elihu Condemns Job

JOB 35 [†]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.”

JOB—NOTE ON 35:12–13 When Elihu says that God does not heed the cry of the oppressed because of the pride of evil men (v. 12b), he does not explicitly indicate whether he is referring to those who cry out or to their oppressors. However, Elihu’s repeated emphasis that God does not answer (v. 12a), listen (hear), or regard an empty cry (v. 13) indicates that he is most likely referring to the pride of the oppressed.

JOB—NOTE ON 35:1–16 What Right Does Job Have Before God? Elihu argues against what he sees as Job’s presumption before God. Where Job said that the wicked and the righteous appear to suffer indiscriminately, Elihu argues that Job is acting as if his righteousness grants him some expectation of favor before God, when neither faithfulness nor wickedness accomplishes anything with or against God (vv. 1–8). Furthermore, where Job had maintained that the oppressed cry out and the wicked are not punished, Elihu argues that they often cry out in pride rather than in prayer to God, and thus God does not regard their cries, much less Job’s vain request and foolish words (vv. 9–16).

JOB—NOTE ON 35:14–16 Elihu argues that if God does not regard the cries of the proud oppressed (vv. 9–13), how can Job expect an answer (v. 14) to what Elihu assumes is the even more obstinate stance of one who takes his own lack of punishment as reason to speak foolishly (vv. 15–16). This is extraordinarily insensitive, considering Job’s actual situation. Elihu is revealing a high view of his own importance.

JOB—NOTE ON 35:6–8 Elihu repeats an aspect of Eliphaz’s final argument against Job—that God does not profit from Job’s righteousness (see 22:2–3). (However, where Elihu merely mentions wickedness within his comparison [35:8], Eliphaz detailed the likely specifics of Job’s evil [see 22:5–9].) Neither Eliphaz nor Elihu understand that the whole impetus for Job’s complaint is his desire to see God vindicated on earth in and through the lives of those who are faithful to him.