5 Look towards heaven and see,

And behold the ethereal heights: they are high above thee.

6 If thou sinnest, what dost thou effect with Him?

And if thy transgressions are many, what doest thou to Him?

7 If thou art righteous, what dost thou give Him,

Or what doth He take from thy hand?

8 To man like thee thy godlessness availeth,

And to thee, a son of man, thy righteousness.

Towards heaven he is to direct his gaze, to obtain from the height of heaven a notion of the exaltation of God who dwells above the heavens. The combination הבּיט וראה is like Psalm 80:15 and freq. שׁחקים (שׁחק, Arab. sḥq, to rub in pieces, make thin, therefore the opposite of עבים) are the thin transparent strata of the atmosphere above the hanging clouds. מן after גּבהּ denotes the height that is on the opposite side to the beholder. From the exaltation of God it is then further inferred that it is impossible to exercise any human influence upon Him, by which He might suffer. The pointing wavers here between תּפעל (the common fut. form) and תּפעל(as a contraction of תּפעל after the form אזעם, Numbers 23:8). Human wrong or right doing neither diminishes nor increases His blessedness; injury or advantage is only on the side of man, from whom it proceeds. Others, whom his conduct affect, are not included in Job 35:8 : righteous or ungodly doing, Elihu means to say, as such and with its consequences, belongs solely to the doer himself, the man "like thee" (לאישׁ with Munach, כּמוך with Munach), the son of man, i.e., man, capable of evil as of good, and who always, after deciding in favour of the latter or the former, determines his fortune or misfortune, in distinction from God, who ever remains unchangeably the same in His perfect righteousness. What Elihu here says we have already heard from Eliphaz, Job 22:2., and Job even expresses himself similarly in Job 7:20; but to Elihu's mind it all becomes for Job new and powerful motives to quiet submission, for what objection should Job raise in justification of his complaints concerning his affliction against such sentiments as these, that goodness bears its reward and evil its punishment in itself, and that God's reward of goodness is not a work of indebtedness, nor His punishment of evil a work of necessity? Before such truth he must really hold his peace.

Job 35:13 Parallel Commentaries

God

Job 22:22-27 Receive, I pray you, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart...

Job 27:8,9 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul...

Proverbs 15:8,29 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight...

Proverbs 28:9 He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 Keep your foot when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools...

Isaiah 1:15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear...

Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore thus said the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape...

Hosea 7:14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, when they howled on their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine...

Hosea 8:2,3 Israel shall cry to me, My God, we know you...

Matthew 6:7 But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Matthew 20:21,22 And he said to her, What will you? She said to him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on your right hand...

James 4:3 You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts.

regard

Job 30:20 I cry to you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you regard me not.

Psalm 102:17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

Amos 5:22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them...