Job
11
- Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
- "Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated ?
- Will your idle talk reduce men to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock ?
- You say to God, 'My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.'
- Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that
he would open his lips against you
- and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your
sin.
- "Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty ?
- They are higher than the heavens--what can
you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave -- what can you know
?
- Their measure is longer than the earth and
wider than the sea.
- "If he comes along and confines you
in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him ?
- Surely he recognizes deceitful men; and when
he sees evil, does he not take note ?
- But a witless man can no more become wise
than a wild donkey's colt can be born a man.
- "Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
- if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
- then you will lift up your face without shame;
you will stand firm and without fear.
- You will surely forget your trouble, recalling
it only as waters gone by.
- Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness
will become like morning.
- You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
- You will lie down, with no one to make you
afraid, and many will court your favor.
- But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and
escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp."
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