Job 35

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35 <1> Elihu continued talking. He said:

<2> "Job, it is not fair for you to say,

'I am more right than God.'

<3> And you ask God,

'What will I gain if you try to please God?

What good will it do me if I don't sin?'

<4> "Job, I want to answer you

and your friends here with you.

<5> Job, look up at the sky.

Look up at the clouds that are higher than you.

<6> Job, if you sin, it does not hurt God.

If you have many sins, that does nothing to God.

<7> And Job, if you are good, that does not help God.

He gets nothing from you.

<8> Job, the good and bad things you do

affect only other people like yourself.

<9> "If people are being hurt,

they will cry out for help

and beg for protection from those who hurt them.

<10> But bad people will not ask God for help.

They will not say,

'Where is the God who made me?

He gives us songs to sing in the night.

So where is he?

<11> God makes us wiser than the birds and animals.

[So where is he?]'

<12> "Or, if bad people ask God for help

then he will not answer them,

because they are too proud.

They still think they are too important.

<13> True, God will not listen

to their worthless begging.

God All-Powerful will not pay attention to them.

<14> So Job, God will not listen to you

when you say that you don't see him.

You say you are waiting for your chance

to meet with God

and prove that you are innocent.

<15> "Job thinks that God

does not punish bad people,

and that he does not pay attention to sin.

<16> So Job continues his worthless talking.

He is acting as if he were important.

It is easy to see that he

does not know what he is talking about."

© Copyright 2004 World Bible Translation Center.