Job 11 DBY
Summary: Zophar the Naamathite gives the harshest of the first-round speeches, rebuking Job's many words as babble and accusing him of mocking others without being put to shame himself, insisting that Job actually deserves worse punishment than he has received, since God exacts less than his guilt deserves. Zophar asks whether Job can fathom the deep things of God, which are higher than heaven and deeper than Sheol, and wider than the earth and sea, implying Job's ignorance of the full picture. He urges Job to put away sin, stretch out his hands to God, and forget his misery, promising that Job's life would then become brighter than noonday, secure and free from fear, while the wicked have no such hope of escape.
1And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
2Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified?
3Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make [thee] ashamed?
4For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
5But oh thatGod would speak, and open his lips against thee;
6And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, how that they are the double of what is realised; and know thatGod passeth by [much] of thine iniquity!
7Canst thou by searching find outGod? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?
8[It is as] the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?
9The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him?
11For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when [man] doth not consider it;
12Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of a wild ass.
13If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him,
14If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents;
15Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear:
16For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it;
17And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning,
18And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety.
19Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and [all] refuge shall vanish from them, and their hope [shall be] the breathing out of life.
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