Elihu delivers his third speech, challenging Job's claim that righteousness profits a person nothing before God. He begins by quoting Job's own words back to him — 'my righteousness is greater than God's' and 'what advantage is it to me if I do not sin?' — then dismantles the premise. His core argument: God is so transcendently high that human sin cannot harm him and human righteousness cannot benefit him. When people cry out under oppression, they cry from pain but not to God; they demand relief but never ask, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?' Their prayers go unanswered not because God is indifferent but because the cries are empty — born of pain, not of genuine turning toward the divine. Elihu concludes that Job speaks from ignorance, multiplying words without knowledge.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This is Elihu's most philosophically daring speech. He articulates a theology of divine transcendence that anticipates God's own speech from the whirlwind: God is so far above human categories that our moral behavior neither enriches nor diminishes him. The logic is sharp — if God gains nothing from your righteousness and loses nothing from your sin, then the entire transactional framework of the friends ('be good and God will reward you') collapses. Elihu is dismantling retribution theology from the top down rather than from Job's bottom up. The most haunting image is verse 10: no one asks 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?' This is the deep diagnosis — suffering people demand rescue but rarely seek relationship. They want God's hand but not God's face. The 'songs in the night' image suggests that God offers something more than pain relief: a capacity for praise even in darkness.
Translation Friction
Elihu's argument contains a real insight wrapped in a problematic application. The insight — that God transcends human moral categories — is theologically sound and will be validated by God's own speech. The problem is the pastoral implication: Elihu essentially tells Job that his suffering does not matter to God, that his righteousness makes no difference to the Almighty. This is technically true at the level of cosmic ontology but devastatingly unhelpful at the level of human experience. A man covered in boils does not need to hear that his pain is cosmically insignificant. Elihu also misquotes Job — Job never said 'my righteousness is greater than God's' but rather argued that God was treating him as though he were unrighteous. The misquotation allows Elihu to construct a straw man.
Connections
The 'songs in the night' image (verse 10) connects to Psalm 42:8 ('in the night his song is with me') and Psalm 77:6 ('I remember my song in the night'). The theology of divine transcendence anticipates Isaiah 55:8-9 ('my thoughts are not your thoughts'). Elihu's claim that human sin cannot affect God echoes Psalm 50:12-13 where God declares he has no need of bulls or goat blood — he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The 'look at the heavens' command (verse 5) prefigures God's own strategy in chapters 38-41 of directing Job's gaze upward and outward.
Job 35:1
וַיַּ֥עַן אֱלִיה֗וּא וַיֹּאמַֽר׃
Then Elihu answered and said:
KJV Elihu spake moreover, and said,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Elihu's third speech begins without the elaborate self-justification of his first two. He moves directly to engage Job's argument. The va-ya'an ('and he answered') follows the standard dialogue formula.
Do you consider this a just claim —
when you say, 'My righteousness exceeds God's'?
KJV Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ha-zot chashavta le-mishpat ('do you reckon this as justice/judgment') challenges Job's legal framework. The amarta tsidqi me-El ('you said: my righteousness is more than God's') is Elihu's paraphrase of Job's position — though Job's actual claim was that God was treating him unjustly despite his innocence, not that he was more righteous than God. The verb chashav ('to reckon, to consider') is accounting language: Elihu challenges the moral arithmetic.
For you ask, 'What good does it do me?
What do I gain by not sinning?'
KJV For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Elihu quotes Job's implication: mah yiskon lakh ('what does it profit you') and mah o'il me-chattati ('what do I gain from my sin / from abstaining from sin'). The verb sakan ('to be of use, to profit') and the verb ya'al ('to profit, to benefit') are commercial terms. Job's complaint, as Elihu frames it, reduces righteousness to a transaction — if there is no profit in being good, why bother? This is a fair extraction of what Job implied in 9:29-31 and 34:9.
I will answer you with words —
you, and your friends along with you.
KJV I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Elihu claims to address both Job and the three friends simultaneously. The ve-et re'eikha immakh ('and your companions with you') signals that Elihu considers the friends' theology equally deficient — they too operate within a transactional framework where righteousness should yield reward.
Look up at the heavens and see —
gaze at the skies, how high they tower above you.
KJV Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The habbet shamayim u-re'eh ('look at the heavens and see') is the pivot of Elihu's argument. Before reasoning about God, look at the physical distance between earth and sky. The shur shechakim gavehu mimmekka ('gaze at the clouds — they are higher than you') uses the verb shur ('to look, to behold with attention') and shechakim ('clouds, skies, thin clouds'). The visual exercise establishes the scale: if the clouds are beyond your reach, how much more the God who made them.
If you sin, what do you do to him?
If your offenses multiply, what does it cost him?
KJV If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The im chatata ('if you sin') mah tif'al bo ('what do you accomplish against him') — the verb pa'al ('to do, to work, to accomplish') asks what effect human sin has on God. The ve-rabbu fesha'eikha ('and your transgressions are many') mah ta'aseh lo ('what do you do to him') — even massive, accumulated rebellion accomplishes nothing against the divine. God is not injured by human sin. This is not moral indifference but ontological transcendence.
If you are righteous, what do you give him?
What does he receive from your hand?
KJV If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The parallel to verse 6: im tsadaqta ('if you are righteous') mah titten lo ('what do you give to him'). The mah mi-yadekha yiqqach ('what from your hand does he take'). The symmetry is complete: sin does not diminish God; righteousness does not enrich God. God is not a merchant who profits from human virtue or loses from human vice. The verb natan ('to give') and laqach ('to take') are exchange verbs — Elihu demolishes the commerce model of divine-human relations.
Your wickedness affects only someone like you;
your righteousness benefits only a fellow human.
KJV Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The application: le-ish kamokha ('to a man like you') rish'ekha ('your wickedness') — sin operates horizontally, person to person. The u-le-ven adam ('and to a son of man, a human being') tsidqatekha ('your righteousness') — virtue also operates horizontally. The vertical axis — human to God — is not affected. Elihu's theology locates the moral consequences of behavior entirely within the human sphere. God stands above the transaction.
Under the weight of oppression, people cry out;
they call for help against the arm of the powerful.
KJV By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shift to a new observation: me-rov ashuqim ('from the abundance of oppressions / from the many oppressed') yaz'iqu ('they cry out'). The yeshavve'u ('they call for help, they cry out for rescue') mi-zzero'a rabbim ('from the arm of the great/mighty'). The zero'a ('arm') is the standard metaphor for military or political power. Elihu acknowledges the reality of oppression and suffering — the cry is real. But he will argue the cry is misdirected.
zemirot ('songs') in the context of ba-llailah ('in the night') describes praise that exists within darkness. The word appears in Psalm 119:54 ('your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning') and 2 Samuel 23:1 (David is 'the sweet singer/zemirot of Israel'). Elihu's use is distinctive: God does not merely receive songs but gives them — the capacity for worship in suffering is itself a divine gift.
Translator Notes
The phrase noten zemirot ba-llailah ('who gives songs in the night') has generated extensive commentary. The zemirot may refer to songs of praise, protective songs (night was associated with danger), or the songs of creation itself (birds sing before dawn). Some scholars connect this to the practice of night vigils in Israelite worship. The image anticipates Psalm 42:8 where the psalmist declares 'in the night his song is with me' and Psalm 77:6 where the psalmist searches his spirit in the night. The theological claim is that God's gift is not limited to daytime prosperity — he gives something precious specifically in the dark hours.
He teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky.
KJV Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The mallefenu ('who teaches us') mi-bbahamot arets ('more than the beasts of the earth') — God has given humanity a capacity for understanding that animals lack. The u-me-of ha-shamayim ('and more than the birds of the heavens') yechakkemenu ('he makes us wise'). The argument: humans have been given superior wisdom, yet they fail to use it to seek God. Animals cry from instinct; humans should know better. The bahamot ('beasts') and of ('birds') anticipate the animal catalog in God's speech (chapters 38-41).
There they cry out, but he does not answer —
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
KJV There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sham yits'aqu ('there they cry out') ve-lo ya'aneh ('but he does not answer') — the silence of God in response to human cries. But the cause is identified: mippnei ge'on ra'im ('because of the pride/arrogance of evil men'). The ge'on ('pride, arrogance, swelling') is the reason for divine silence — not God's indifference but the quality of the cry. The cry comes from arrogant self-pity, not from genuine seeking. The ra'im ('evil ones, wicked') describes the character of those crying, not a separate group.
Surely God does not hear an empty cry;
the Almighty does not regard it.
KJV Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The akh shav ('surely emptiness, vanity') lo yishma El ('God does not hear') — the shav ('emptiness, falsehood, vanity') describes the quality of the cry, not its volume. A cry born of self-interest rather than genuine turning toward God is shav — hollow. The Shaddai ('the Almighty') lo yeshurennah ('does not look at it, does not regard it'). The verb shur ('to see, to observe, to regard') means God does not even acknowledge such prayers. The theology is severe: not all prayers are equal, and God distinguishes between genuine seeking and pain-driven demands.
How much less when you say you cannot see him —
the case is before him; wait for him!
KJV Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The af ki tomar ('how much more/less when you say') lo teshurennhu ('you do not see him') — Job's complaint that God is invisible and inaccessible. Elihu's response: din lefanav ('judgment/justice is before him') — the legal case already stands before God's face even if Job cannot see God's face. The u-techolel lo ('and wait for him, writhe in expectation before him') — the verb chul ('to wait, to writhe, to be in labor') conveys painful expectation. Elihu tells Job to endure the waiting.
But now — because his anger has not yet struck,
he does not know the full extent of it.
KJV But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This verse is textually difficult. The ve-attah ki ayin paqad appo ('and now because nothing/not — he visited his anger') may mean that God has not yet fully punished, so Job is unaware of how severe the consequences could be. The ve-lo yada ba-ppash me'od ('and he does not know in the abundance/extremity greatly') — Job does not recognize the full magnitude of the situation. The pash ('abundance, transgression') is a rare word. Elihu suggests Job's situation could be much worse, and Job does not appreciate God's restraint.
So Job opens his mouth for nothing —
he piles up words without knowledge.
KJV Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Elihu's verdict: ve-Iyyov hevel yiftseh pihu ('and Job — in vain/emptiness he opens his mouth'). The hevel ('vapor, breath, vanity') is the same word that dominates Ecclesiastes — Job's speech is as insubstantial as mist. The bi-veli da'at millin yakhbir ('without knowledge he multiplies words') echoes God's own coming challenge in 38:2 ('who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge'). Elihu anticipates God's language, though he lacks God's authority to deliver it.