Wisdom · Chapter 35 of 42

Job 35

Elihu challenges Job's assumption that righteousness earns leverage with God and that sin harms him. He argues that human goodness or wickedness affects other people, not God's own being. He explains that the oppressed often cry without asking for God their Maker, who gives songs in the night, and that God will not answer empty, prideful pleas.

What happens in Job 35

Elihu questions Job's claim that his righteousness gives him more standing than God's, and Job's complaint that being cleansed from sin profits him nothing. He tells Job to look up at the heavens and clouds far above him. If a person sins, what harm is done to God? If a person is righteous, what does God gain? Human wickedness and righteousness touch fellow humans, not the self-sufficient God. Elihu observes that the oppressed cry out under the arm of the mighty, but none asks, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night and teaches us more than the beasts and birds.

Because their cry is proud and empty rather than a true seeking of God, they go unanswered. God will not hear vanity. Elihu concludes that Job, too, opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.

Job 35 in context

Elihu answers a bargaining view of religion, the idea that righteousness puts God in one's debt. He asserts God's transcendence: the Creator is not enriched by our virtue nor damaged by our sin. His point about songs in the night suggests that the issue is often the heart of the sufferer, who complains without truly seeking God.

The argument corrects a transactional faith, though it still edges toward faulting Job's manner of prayer.

Main themes of Job 35

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.

Verses to carry from Job 35

“If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?”Job 35:6

“But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;”Job 35:10

“Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.”Job 35:13

Reflection

Elihu exposes a subtle trade we make with God, imagining our goodness obligates him. But God gives songs in the night to those who seek him, not to those who bargain. In your suffering, are you crying only for relief, or truly turning to your Maker?

A prayer from Job 35