Ayub 35:5-8

35:5 Gaze at the heavens and see;

consider the clouds, which are higher than you! ¹ 

35:6 If you sin, how does it affect God? ² 

If your transgressions are many,

what does it do to him? ³ 

35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God,

or what does he receive from your hand?

35:8 Your wickedness affects only ⁴  a person like yourself,

and your righteousness only other people. ⁵ 

[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.).

[35:6]  ² tn Heb “him” (also in v. 7); the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[35:6]  ³ tn See Job 7:20.

[35:8]  ⁴ tn The phrase “affects only” is supplied in the translation of this nominal sentence.

[35:8]  sn According to Strahan, “Elihu exalts God’s greatness at the cost of His grace, His transcendence at the expense of His immanence. He sets up a material instead of a spiritual stand of profit and loss. He does not realize that God does gain what He desires most by the goodness of men, and loses what He most loves by their evil.”

[35:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and to [or for] a son of man, your righteousness.”