² “Do you think this to be just?
    You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’^(A)
3 If you ask, ‘What advantage have I?
    How am I better off than if I had sinned?’^(B)
4 I will answer you
    and your friends with you.
⁵ Look at the heavens and see;
    observe the clouds, which are higher than you.^(C)
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
    And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?^(D)
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
    or what does he receive from your hand?^(E)
8 Your wickedness affects others like you,
    and your righteousness, other human beings.

⁹ “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
    they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.^(F)
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
    who gives strength in the night,^(G)
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
    and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’^(H)
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
    because of the pride of evildoers.^(I)
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
    nor does the Almighty^[a] regard it.^(J)
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him,
    that the case is before him and you are waiting for him!^(K)
15 And now, because his anger does not punish
    and he does not greatly heed transgression,^[b](L)
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk;
    he multiplies words without knowledge.”^(M)

² “Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
    for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
³ I will bring my knowledge from far away
    and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.^(A)
4 For truly my words are not false;
    one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.^(B)

⁵ “Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
    he is mighty in strength of understanding.^(C)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
    but gives the afflicted their right.^(D)
7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
    but with kings on the throne
    he sets them forever, and they are exalted.^(E)
8 And if they are bound in fetters
    and caught in the cords of affliction,
⁹ then he declares to them their work
    and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.^(F)
10 He opens their ears to instruction
    and commands that they return from iniquity.^(G)
11 If they listen and serve him,
    they complete their days in prosperity
    and their years in pleasantness.^(H)
12 But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword
    and die without knowledge.^(I)

¹³ “The godless in heart cherish anger;
    they do not cry for help when he binds them.^(J)
14 They die in their youth,
    and their life ends in shame.^[a](K)
15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction
    and opens their ear by adversity.^(L)
16 He also allured you out of distress
    into a broad place where there was no constraint,
    and what was set on your table was full of fatness.^(M)

¹⁷ “But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
    judgment and justice seize you.
¹⁸ Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
    and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.^(N)
19 Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
    or will all the force of your strength?
²⁰ Do not long for the night,
    when peoples are cut off in their place.^(O)
21 Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
    because of that you have been tried by affliction.^(P)
22 See, God is exalted in his power;
    who is a teacher like him?
²³ Who has prescribed for him his way,
    or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?^(Q)