² Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?
³ For you ask, “What does it profit you,^[a]
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?” ^(A)
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
⁵ Look at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds high above you.
⁶ If you sin, how does it affect God?
If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him?
⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give him,
or what does he receive from your hand?^(B)
8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness, a son of man.^[b]
9 People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the power of the mighty.^(C)
10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,^(D)
who provides us with songs in the night,^(E)
11 who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?” ^(F)
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil people.^(G)
13 Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
¹⁴ how much less when^[c] you complain^[d]
that you do not see him,
that your case^(H) is before him
and you are waiting^(I) for him.
¹⁵ But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and he does not pay attention to transgression,^[e]
16 Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.^(J)