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?
⁸ Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness another human being.
⁹ People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the arm of the mighty.
¹⁰ But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,
who provides us with songs in the night,
¹¹ who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”
¹² There they cry out, but He does not answer,
because of the pride of evil men.
¹³ Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
¹⁴ how much less when you complain
that you do not see Him,
that your case is before Him
and you are waiting for Him.
¹⁵ But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and He does not pay attention to transgression,
¹⁶ Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.