Job 35

Introduction

Job 35 is Elihu's third speech and his shortest. It picks up the thread from chapter 34 — specifically Job's most inflammatory claim that there is no profit in serving God — and pursues a single philosophical argument: human sin and human righteousness do not affect God in any way. God is beyond the reach of human virtue or vice. Job's complaint that God has not responded is therefore misdirected: the problem is not God's indifference but the quality of the cry itself. Prayers that rise from pride, or from a transactional view of religion ("I've been righteous, so where is my reward?"), are empty prayers. God doesn't hear them — not because God is deaf, but because they are not genuinely directed at God.

There is real insight buried in Elihu's argument. The idea that human beings cannot diminish or augment God by their behavior is genuine wisdom about divine transcendence. And the critique of self-interested piety — praying not to worship God but to get what one wants — touches on something true. But once again, Elihu applies these insights to Job in ways that miss the mark. Job's prayer has not been self-interested. He has been crying out for justice, for a hearing, for God's presence — precisely the things Elihu claims are lacking from empty cries. Elihu ends by dismissing Job's words as "words without knowledge," echoing what he said in chapter 34 — and anticipating, ironically, the very words God will use to open his own speech to Job in Job 38:2.

Human Sin and Righteousness Cannot Touch God (vv. 1–8)

¹ And Elihu went on to say: ² "Do you think this is just? You say, 'I am more righteous than God.' ³ For you ask, 'What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?' ⁴ I will reply to you and to your friends as well. ⁵ Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. ⁶ If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him? ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand? ⁸ Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.

¹ And Elihu answered and said: ² "Do you think this is right — that you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'? ³ For you ask, 'What advantage does it give me? What profit do I have, more than if I had sinned?' ⁴ I will answer you, and your friends along with you. ⁵ Look up at the heavens and see; observe the clouds, which are higher than you. ⁶ If you have sinned, what have you done against him? And if your transgressions are many, what have you done to him? ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? ⁸ Your wickedness belongs to a man like yourself, and your righteousness to a son of man.

Notes

Verse 2's charge — "you say, 'my righteousness is more than God's'" (צִדְקִי מֵאֵל) — paraphrases Job's complaint aggressively. Job has not claimed to be more righteous than God; he has claimed to be righteous and has accused God of treating him as an enemy. But Elihu interprets the legal claim — "I am in the right and God has denied me justice" — as implying that Job's righteousness exceeds God's. This may be an unfair characterization, but it identifies a real tension in Job's words.
Verse 3 quotes what is effectively the Adversary's wager inverted. In Job 1:9 the Adversary asked, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" — implying Job's piety is mercenary. Now Elihu quotes Job as asking "what profit do I have more than if I had sinned?" — implying Job's piety has proved unprofitable. The similarity between the Adversary's suspicion and Elihu's quotation of Job is darkly ironic. Whether Job has actually arrived at this position, or whether Elihu is pushing Job's words to a logical extreme they don't quite reach, is a matter of interpretation.
The argument of verses 5–7 is philosophically serious. God is as high above Job as the clouds are above his head. Human behavior does not diminish or increase God. אִם חָטָאתָ מַה תִּפְעָל בּוֹ — "if you sin, what have you done to him?" and אִם צָדַקְתָּ מַה תִּתֶּן לוֹ — "if you are righteous, what do you give him?" This is the argument from divine aseity — God's complete self-sufficiency. Nothing humans do adds to or subtracts from God's being or happiness in any ultimate sense. The wisdom tradition recognizes this (Psalm 16:2: "I say to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you'"). Elihu uses it to argue that Job's moral ledger is irrelevant to God — but the argument has a flaw: the book of Job itself shows God caring deeply about Job's faithfulness (cf. Job 1:8, where God takes pride in Job before the heavenly council).
Verse 8's conclusion — "your wickedness is for a man like yourself, your righteousness for a son of man" — asserts that the moral consequences of human behavior fall entirely within the human sphere. Sin hurts other humans; righteousness benefits other humans. God is unaffected. This is partially true at the level of divine metaphysics. It is deeply false as a statement about God's care for and response to human behavior, as the entire narrative frame of the book demonstrates.

Why Cries Go Unanswered (vv. 9–16)

⁹ Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty. ¹⁰ But no one asks, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night, ¹¹ who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?' ¹² There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³ Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it. ¹⁴ How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him, ¹⁵ and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly! ¹⁶ So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge."

⁹ Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. ¹⁰ But no one asks, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, ¹¹ who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?' ¹² There they cry out, and he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³ Surely God will not hear an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it. ¹⁴ How much less when you say that you do not see him — that the case is before him, and you wait for him! ¹⁵ And now, because his anger has not punished and he has not greatly taken note of transgression, ¹⁶ Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge."

Notes

Verses 9–12 introduce a crucial distinction between two kinds of crying out. The first is the cry of the oppressed under social injustice — מֵרֹב עֲשׁוּקִים יַזְעִיקוּ ("because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out"). This cry goes unanswered — not because God doesn't hear in principle, but because the criers ask the wrong question. They cry for relief from their oppressors but "no one asks" (וְלֹא אָמַר אַיֵּה — "and no one says 'where?'") — no one turns to seek the God who is the ultimate source of help.
The description of God in verse 10–11 as "my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts" is one of the most beautiful passages in Elihu's speeches. אֱלוֹהַּ עֹשַׂי נֹתֵן זְמִרוֹת בַּלָּיְלָה — "God my Maker, who gives songs in the night." The word זְמִרוֹת means songs, music, praise-songs. God gives songs in the night — in times of darkness and suffering, he provides the capacity for praise and perspective that transcends circumstance. This anticipates Acts 16:25 where Paul and Silas sing hymns at midnight in prison.
Elihu's diagnosis in verse 12 — prayers go unanswered "because of the pride of evil men" (מִפְּנֵי גְאוֹן רָעִים) — is his key interpretive move. The unanswered cry arises from a proud, self-focused spirit that wants rescue but not relationship with God. The שָׁוְא ("emptiness, vanity") of verse 13 — "God will not hear an empty/vain cry" — is the same word used in the third commandment: "Do not take the name of the LORD in vain." Empty prayer is prayer that uses God's name without genuine orientation toward God.
Verse 14's argument — "how much less when you say you cannot see him, that the case is before him, and you wait" — turns the general principle back on Job. Job has at least acknowledged that his case is before God and that he is waiting. But Elihu implies this is still not sufficient — Job's waiting is tinged with accusation rather than trust. The problem is that Job's situation is categorically different from the oppressed who cry from pride: Job has been genuinely seeking God, not just relief.
Verse 16's final dismissal — וְאִיּוֹב הֶבֶל יִפְצֶה פִיהוּ בִּבְלִי דַעַת מִלִּין יַכְבִּר — "Job opens his mouth in emptiness; he multiplies words without knowledge" — uses הֶבֶל ("vapor, breath, emptiness") — the signature word of Ecclesiastes. Elihu dismisses all of Job's speeches as vapor. This verdict will be directly contradicted by God in Job 42:7, but it is also ironically echoed in God's own opening challenge in Job 38:2: "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" — applying not just to Job but arguably to all human speech about divine things.