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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 35

Job 35: Elihu on what human sin or righteousness does to God

General context

Elihu speaks again. He asks whether Job thinks it right to have said that his righteousness is more than God's, and to have asked what advantage or profit he would have if cleansed from sin. He will answer Job and his companions. He tells Job to look at the heavens and the clouds higher than he. If Job sins, what does he do against God, and if his transgressions multiply, what does he do to him? If Job is righteous, what does he give God, or what does God receive from his hand? Job's wickedness may hurt a man like himself, and his righteousness may profit the son of man. Because of many oppressions the oppressed cry out under the arm of the mighty, but none says, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night and teaches us more than the beasts and makes us wiser than the fowls. They cry and none answers, because of the pride of evil men. God will not hear vanity, nor will the Almighty regard it. Although Job says he will not see him, judgment is before God, so Job should trust in him. But now, because it is not so, God has visited in his anger, yet Job does not know it in great extremity. Therefore, Elihu concludes, Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.

Cited passages: Job 35:1, Job 35:2, Job 35:3, Job 35:4, Job 35:5, Job 35:6, Job 35:7, Job 35:8, Job 35:9, Job 35:10, Job 35:11, Job 35:12, Job 35:13, Job 35:14, Job 35:15, Job 35:16

Job 35 (KJV)

1Elihu spake moreover, and said,

2Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?

3For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?

4I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

5Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

6If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

7If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

8Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

9By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

10But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

11Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

12There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

13Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

14Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

15But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

16Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.

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Historical context

The heading marks a further speech by Elihu, addressed to Job as "thou" and, in verse 4, to "thy companions with thee." The sayings Elihu attributes to Job, that his righteousness is more than God's and that there is no profit in being cleansed from sin, are Elihu's reports; Job's own words in chapters 23 to 31 assert that he holds his righteousness fast and that God has taken away his judgment, and he does not say in those words that his righteousness exceeds God's. Elihu's statement that Job says he shall not see God echoes Job's complaint that he cannot perceive God in any direction. The argument that human sin and righteousness reach only other people and not God is Elihu's; Eliphaz raised a similar question earlier when he asked whether a man can be profitable to God. "God my maker" is Elihu's phrase. The chapter records no reply from Job and no narration.

Cited passages: Job 35:1, Job 35:4, Job 35:2, Job 35:3, Job 27:6, Job 27:2, Job 35:14, Job 23:9, Job 35:6, Job 22:2, Job 35:10

Literary context

The speech opens and closes on Job's words: it begins by quoting what Job is said to have said and ends with the verdict that he multiplies words without knowledge. Between these it moves in three steps. First a pair of balanced questions, sin and righteousness set side by side, each asked what it does to God, with the answer that both reach only other people. Then a picture of the oppressed crying under the mighty, where the fault named is not the oppression but the failure to ask, "Where is God my maker," and the pride that leaves the cry unanswered. Then the application to Job: judgment is before God even if Job cannot see him, so trust. The line "who giveth songs in the night" stands out against Job's own night of pierced bones, and "the clouds which are higher than thou" repeats the friends' habit of pointing upward, as Eliphaz did with the height of the stars. The final verse names Job in the third person, as though delivering a finding to onlookers rather than speaking to him.

Cited passages: Job 35:2, Job 35:16, Job 35:6, Job 35:7, Job 35:8, Job 35:9, Job 35:10, Job 35:12, Job 35:14, Job 30:17, Job 35:5, Job 22:12

Key moments

  1. Righteousness more than God's? (Job 35:2). Elihu asks whether Job was right to claim his righteousness exceeds God's.
  2. Look to the clouds (Job 35:5). Elihu tells Job to see how much higher the heavens are than he.
  3. What does sin do to God? (Job 35:6). Elihu asks what Job's sin or righteousness could do to God.
  4. Righteousness helps men (Job 35:8). Elihu says wickedness hurts and righteousness profits other people, not God.
  5. Songs in the night (Job 35:10). Elihu says the oppressed cry out but none asks for God their maker.
  6. Judgment is before him (Job 35:14). Elihu tells Job to trust God though he says he cannot see him.
  7. Words without knowledge (Job 35:16). Elihu concludes that Job opens his mouth in vain.

For reflection

Elihu says a person's sin or righteousness reaches other people but does nothing to God. If that is so, what would it mean for Job's complaint that God has become cruel to him?

People in this chapter

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