Text -- Job 35:1-5 (NET)

Elihu’s Third Speech

35:1 Then Elihu answered: 35:2 “Do you think this to be just: when you say, ‘My right before God.’ 35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ 35:4 I will reply to you, and to your friends with you. 35:5 Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 35:1

¹ sn This short speech falls into two sections: Elihu refutes Job’s claim that goodness avails nothing (35:2-8), asserting that when the cry of the afflicted goes unanswered they have not learned their lesson (35:9-16).

NET Notes: Job 35:2

¹ tn The line could be read as “do you reckon this for justice? Here “to be” is understood.

² tn The word “when” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

³ tn The brief line could be interpreted in a number of ways. The MT simply has “my right from God.” It could be “I am right before God,” “I am more just/right than God” (identifying the preposition as a comparative min (מִן); cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 463), “I will be right before God,” or “My just cause against God.”

NET Notes: Job 35:3

¹ tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.

² tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”

NET Notes: Job 35:4

¹ tn The emphatic pronoun calls attention to Elihu who will answer these questions.

² tn The Hebrew text adds, “with words,” but since this is obvious, for stylistic reasons it has not been included in the translation.

NET Notes: Job 35:5

¹ tn The preposition is taken here as a comparative min (מִן). The line could also read “that are high above you.” This idea has appeared in the speech of Eliphaz (22:12), Zophar (11:7ff.), and even Job (9:8ff.).