Job 35:3
in Job 35For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That thou sayest, What advantage will it be unto thee? And, What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?
KJV
For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
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This verse in Job 35
Commentary
10 notes on this verseFor thou saidst, that which is right doth not please thee, or what will it profit thee, if I shall have sinned. If the whole course of the book is attended to, blessed Job is proved to have said none of these things. But haughty men, as we have also said before, are wont to have this peculiarity, that while they go on in violent invective, they also speak falsely in their inveighing, and that, when they cannot justly blame the things which exist, they reprehend, in their falsehood, those which do not exist.
This site's exposition
And Elihu went on to say
on Job 35:1-4
Elihu opens his third speech by restating a charge against Job. Henry notes that Elihu summarizes Job instead of quoting him, tightening what Job argued in chapters 9 and 10 into one hard claim. Gill reads verse 3, “What does it profit me”, as Job's question turned into a complaint.
This site's exposition
What does it profit me
Elihu returns to the saying he answered at Job 34:9, as Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. This time he argues that God gains nothing and loses nothing by what a man does. John Gill calls the saying an inference from Job's words.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Eliud distinctly says that Job had this intention, "For you said: Good does not please you, (or in another text, 'what is right') or what does it profit you if I sin?" These two sayings are never found in what Job has said, but the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
15 , If I be wicked, woe to me; but, if I be righteous, it is all the same. The psalmist, when he compared his own afflictions with the prosperity of the wicked, was tempted to say, Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, Ps. lxxiii. And, if Job said so, he did in effect say, My righteousness is more than God's (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For thou saidst, what advantage will it be unto thee?.... Meaning that his righteousness, his holy life and conversation, were of no avail to him: he received no more benefit by being righteous than if he was wicked, since God destroyed one as well as another; and since his righteousness did not secure him from afflictions and calamities, it was of no advantage to him; he had not said so in so many words, but it is inferred from what he had said, Job 9:
When we have said, in our haste, that which was not right, it becomes us to own that our second thoughts convince us that it was wrong. Two things Elihu here reproves Job for:-- 1. For justifying himself more than God, which was the thing that first provoked him, ch. xxxii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For thou saidst - Another sentiment of a similar kind which Elihu proposes to examine. He had already adverted to this sentiment of Job in Job 34:9, and examined it at some length, and had shown in reply to it that God could not be unjust, and that there was great impropriety when man presumed to arraign the justice of the Most High. He now adverts to it again in order to show that God could not be benefited or injured by the conduct of man, and that he was, therefore, under no inducement to treat him otherwise than impartially.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, explanatory of "this" in Job 35:2, "That thou sayest (to thyself, as if a distinct person) What advantage is it (thy integrity) to thee? What profit have I (by integrity) more than (I should have) by my sin?" that is, more than if I had sinned (Job 34:9).
What advantage will it be unto thee? - As if he had said to God, “My righteousness cannot profit thee, nor do I find that it is of any benefit to myself.” Or perhaps Elihu makes here a general assertion, which he afterwards endeavors to exemplify: Thou hast been reasoning how it may profit thee, and thou hast said, “What profit shall I have in righteousness more than in sin?”
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹ֭אמַר | tomar | you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יִּסְכָּן־ | yiskon- | will it be of use | H5532 → | 12 times |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| מָֽה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֹ֝עִ֗יל | ʾoil | will I profit | H3276 → | 23 times |
| מֵֽחַטָּאתִֽי׃ | mechatati | from sin my | H2403 → | 295 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תֹ֭אמַרyou say
tomarH559 →5305 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יִּסְכָּן־will it be of use
yiskon-H5532 →12 times
לָ֑ךְto you
lakh
מָֽה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
אֹ֝עִ֗ילwill I profit
ʾoilH3276 →23 times
מֵֽחַטָּאתִֽי׃from sin my
mechatatiH2403 →295 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 3:14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
it leads to
- Isaiah 58:3
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress…
- Psalms 73:8–13
They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
- Zephaniah 1:12
And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’
- Isaiah 58:3
Through
Job 34:9For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God.’
it leads to
- Malachi 3:14
You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Malachi 3:14
Through
Job 10:15If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:11
Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Isaiah 3:11
Through
Psalms 73:13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.
it leads to
- Psalms 26:6
I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- Job 21:15
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
- Job 34:9
For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God.’
- Psalms 26:6
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.