Job 35

² 
“Do you think this is according to [your] justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?
³ 
“For you say, ‘What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]?
What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?’
⁴ 
“I will answer you,
And your companions with you.
⁵ 
“Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the skies which are [much] higher than you.
⁶ 
“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him?
⁷ 
“If you are righteous, what do you give God,
Or what does He receive from your hand?
⁸ 
“Your wickedness affects only a man such as you,
And your righteousness affects only ^[a]a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign].

⁹ 
“Because of the multitudes of oppressions the people cry out;
They cry for help because of the [violent] arm of the mighty.
¹⁰ 
“But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs [of rejoicing] in the night,
¹¹ 
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
¹² 
“The people cry out, but He does not answer
Because of the pride of evil men.
¹³ 
“Surely God will not listen to an empty cry [which lacks trust],
Nor will the Almighty regard it.
¹⁴ 
“Even though you say that you do not see Him [when missing His righteous judgment on earth],
Yet your case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!
¹⁵ 
“And now, because He has not [quickly] punished in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression and arrogance well [and seems unaware of the wrong of which a person is guilty],
¹⁶ 
Job uselessly opens his mouth
And multiplies words without knowledge [drawing the worthless conclusion that the righteous have no more advantage than the wicked].”