Elihu seeks to correct some of Job’s misguided notions. A person’s good or bad behavior affects other people, not the deity. If the deity does not respond to supplication, it is not from divine indifference but from disdain toward the suppliant. Accordingly, God is not ignoring Job’s complaint; Job needs to wait more patiently.
[35:1] Up spoke Elihu and he said:
[2–3] Is this why you planned your lawsuit:
You thought, “I am more just than God!”
When you asked, what’s the profit to you?
“How do I gain from not sinning?”1
[4] I will put words back to you—
And your companions as well.
[5–7] Look up at the heavens and observe;
See how the sky is much higher than you!
If you’ve sinned, what can you do to him?2
As your crimes multiply, what do you do for him?
If you are just, what do you give him?
What does he get from your hand?
[8] When you’re wicked, it affects your fellow man;
And when you’re just, it affects another person.
[9–10] When the many oppress,3 people cry out;
When the many wield power,4 they call for aid.
They5 do not say, “Where is Eloah my Maker,6
The Grantor of Strength7 in the night?”
[11] He more than wild beasts instructs us;
More than birds of the sky makes us wise.8
[12] When9 they cry out, and he does not answer—
It’s because of the bad people’s pride.10
[13] For El will not hear insincerity;
Shaddai will not look at it.
[14–15] All the more to your saying,
“You do not look at it!”11
The matter’s before him,
And you must wait.12
For he neither punishes13 in anger,
Nor greatly harms14 the sinner.15
[16] Yet Job widens his mouth16 with wind;
He multiplies words without knowledge.
1. Elihu is inferring that Job said this because Eliphaz appears to reject such a claim in 22:2–3; see the comment there.
2. A quotation of Job in 7:20.
3. Literally, “On account of many oppressors.” For the form of this word, compare Jeremiah 22:3.
4. More literally, “on account of the arm of many.”
5. The Hebrew has the singular, referring back to the “man” and “person” of verse 8. The Qumran Aramaic and some other versions understand a plural here.
6. A conventional prayer formula; see for example 2 Kings 2:14.
7. Reading zemarot (singular: zimra; for example Exodus 15:2) for zemirot “songs.” Compare Psalm 68:36: “He grants power and might.”
8. Elihu is overturning Job’s assertion in 12:8.
9. For the sense of “when,” analogous to Arabic thamma, compare Micah 3:4.
10. Elihu explains that the deity’s seeming indifference to some sufferers is their fault—they are too proud to ask for God’s help; see verse 10. Compare Micah 3:4.
11. At his case.
12. Contra Job, who has said he cannot bear waiting for a hearing (13:15). For the unique form teḥolel read probably titḥolel “wait”; see Psalm 37:7.
13. Vocalizing poqed in accord with the use of the negative particle ’ein (for ’ayin “nought”). For the sense, compare Psalm 89:33.
14. Reading yarea‘ for yada‘ “know”; for the construal with the preposition b, see for example Psalm 74:3.
15. Reading beposhea‘ (compare the ancient versions) for bappash, which, though seemingly from the verb push “spread,” is completely anomalous. The entire verse is problematic.
16. For the negative connotation of this phrase, see for example Psalm 22:14.