² “Do you think this is ·fair [just]?
    You say, ‘·God will show that I am right [or I am more right than God],’
³ but you also ask, ‘What’s the use?
    ·I don’t gain [^LHow have I gained…?] anything by not sinning.’

⁴ “I will answer you
    and your friends who are with you.
⁵ Look up at the ·sky [^Lheavens and see]
    and observe the clouds so high above you.
⁶ If you sin, it does nothing to ·God [^Lhim];
    even if your ·sins [transgressions] are many, they do nothing to him.
⁷ If you are ·good [right; righteous], ·you give nothing [^Lwhat would you give…?] to God;
    ·he receives nothing [^Lwhat would he receive…?] from your hand.
⁸ Your ·evil ways [wickedness] only ·hurt [or influence] others like yourself,
    and ·the good you do [your righteousness] only ·helps [or influences] other human beings.

⁹ “·People [^LThey] cry out ·when they are in trouble [due to their many oppressions];
    they ·beg for relief [shout for help] ·from powerful people [^Lbecause of the arm of the strong].
¹⁰ But no one asks, ‘Where is God, my Maker,
    who gives us ·songs [or strength] in the night,
¹¹ who ·makes us smarter [or teaches us more] than the animals of the earth
    and wiser than the birds of the ·air [heavens]?’
¹² He does not answer evil people when they cry out,
    because the wicked are proud.
¹³ God does not listen to their useless begging;
    the Almighty pays no attention to them.
¹⁴ ·He will listen to you even [^LHow much] less
    when you say that you do not see him,
    that your case is before him,
    that you must wait for him,
¹⁵     that his anger never punishes,
    and that he doesn’t notice evil.
¹⁶ So Job is only speaking ·nonsense [meaningless things],
    saying many words ·without knowing what is true [ignorantly].”