Job 35 — Summary & Meaning

Elihu answers Job's question of what advantage righteousness brings, asking whether a man's sin or goodness can reach up to touch the Most High. He reasons that our wickedness harms only fellow men and our righteousness profits only men, for God is far above being enriched or diminished by what we do. If God does not answer the oppressed, it is because they cry out in pride rather than seeking Him, and such empty crying He will not hear. By setting God high above the reach of human deeds, Elihu calls the sufferer to humble trust rather than to bargaining with heaven.

Historical backdrop

Job belongs to the patriarchal world, the age of Abraham, before there was an Israel, a law, or a priesthood. His wealth is counted the way a Middle Bronze Age chieftain's was, in herds of sheep and camels, oxen and donkeys, and he himself offers the sacrifices for his household as head of his own clan. The land of Uz lay east toward Edom and the Arabian desert, open country where raiding bands like the Sabeans and Chaldeans could sweep off a man's herds in a morning. Nothing in the book speaks of Sinai or the covenant: its questions are older than the nation, set in the wide world before the promise narrowed to one people.

Matthew Henry on Job 35

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Job 35

The Church Fathers on Job 35

Cited by the confessions

¹Moreover Elihu answered and said,

²Thinkest thou this to be thy right, Or sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God’s,

³That thou sayest, What advantage will it be unto thee? And, What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?

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

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

⁶If thou hast sinned, what effectest thou against him? And if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

⁷If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thy hand?

⁸Thy wickednessmay hurta man as thou art; And thy righteousness may profit a son of man.

⁹By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help 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 birds of the heavens?

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

¹³Surely God will not hear an emptycry, Neither will the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴How much less when thou sayest thou beholdest him not, The cause is before him, and thou waitest for him!

¹⁵But now, because he hath not visited in his anger, Neither doth he greatly regard arrogance;

¹⁶Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity; He multiplieth words without knowledge.

What is Job 35 about?