In 22.3 Eliphaz asked “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous?” It is the wisdom of Elihu to repeat what he has heard others say. If you are righteous, what do you give to him…?: are righteous here means “do what is right, live rightly, be upright.” Give to him translates the Hebrew literally, and it contrasts with its parallel receive in the following line. Good News Translation, which understands Elihu’s question as irony, translates “Do you help God by being so righteous?” There is no indication in verse 6 that Elihu is using sarcasm, and it is probably not intended in verse 7 either. Elihu is attempting to make his point by using the words of Job and the friends. As in the preceding verse, the first half of the verse may be rendered as a question (Revised Standard Version) or a statement (Good News Translation). The line may be rendered, for example, “If you do what is right, what good are you doing for him?” or “If you do what is right, you are giving him nothing” or “… you are doing nothing for God.”

Or what does he receive from your hand?: this line is parallel in meaning to the question in line a. Your hand is a part referring to the whole and means “from you.” The two lines may be shortened and combined; for example, “By doing what is right, how does that help God?” or “If you are innocent, what does God get from that?” In this view, it matters very little that Job has a claim against God based on Job’s innocence, since Job’s doing right would have no effect on God anyway. The logical implication is that Job should forget his complaint against God.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .