Job35chapter 35

Elihu takes up a question Job had raised in chapter 21 and turns it around: what advantage is it to you, and what profit do I have, if I am cleansed from my sin? His answer is that a man's righteousness neither adds to God nor takes from him. Look to the heavens and see, and behold the clouds which are higher than thou — if you sin, what do you accomplish against him? Your wickedness hurts a man like yourself, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.

That was a genuine correction in a world where sacrifice was widely understood as feeding the gods and keeping them in a good mood. Mesopotamian religion assumed the gods depended on human offerings. Elihu says God has no such need, so neither obedience nor sin changes his position.

His explanation for unanswered prayer follows. By reason of many oppressions men cry out, and they cry out because of the arm of the mighty — but none says, 'Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night, who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?' The complaint goes up, but it is not addressed to anyone. Elihu is distinguishing a howl of pain from a prayer.

'Songs in the night' is a small, memorable phrase. Nights were long, dark, and often frightening; a song in the night was what a person had when nothing else could be done, and Elihu credits God with supplying it.