Job 11

Zophar rebukes Job

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: ²“Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? ³Will your idle talk reduce others to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock?

⁴You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ ⁵Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you ⁶and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.a

⁷“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? ⁸They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? ⁹Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

¹⁰“If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? ¹¹Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?b ¹²But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.

¹³“Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, ¹⁴if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, ¹⁵then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear.

¹⁶You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. ¹⁷Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning.c ¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.d

¹⁹You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.”