Job’s words are empty,
just like the pleas of the wicked (Job 35:13). Therefore, he should not expect answers from God.
Elihu is certainly justified in saying that Job had gone too far with his complaints. Yet he seems to have forgotten all the good and true words that Job had spoken. Job was never like the people described in Job 35:9–12, who do not seek God or think about him. His complaints had come from deep agony, while in his heart he refused to believe that God is unjust. After all, he sought help against God’s injustice
from no-one but God himself!
Elihu is right in pointing out that not all cries for help come from the lips of the righteous. But he is wrong to apply this truth to Job. To Elihu, Job’s complaints against God weigh heavier than all Job’s statements of faith, and heavier even than a whole life lived in devotion to God (Job 31:1–40).
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”