35:2 “Do you think this to be 1 just:
when 2 you say, ‘My right before God.’ 3
35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ 4
and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ 5
35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; 6
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
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.”
4 tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.
5 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?”
6 tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”