2“Do you think this is just?

You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’

3Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me, ^a

and what do I gain by not sinning?’

4“I would like to reply to you

and to your friends with you.

5Look up at the heavens and see;

gaze at the clouds so high above you.

6If you sin, how does that affect him?

If your sins are many, what does that do to him?

7If you are righteous, what do you give to him,

or what does he receive from your hand?

8Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,

and your righteousness only other people.

9“People cry out under a load of oppression;

they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.

10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

who gives songs in the night,

11who teaches us more than he teaches ^b the beasts of the earth

and makes us wiser than ^c the birds in the sky?’

12He does not answer when people cry out

because of the arrogance of the wicked.

13Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;

the Almighty pays no attention to it.

14How much less, then, will he listen

when you say that you do not see him,

that your case is before him

and you must wait for him,

15and further, that his anger never punishes

and he does not take the least notice of wickedness. ^d

16So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;

without knowledge he multiplies words.”