11 1 Job is unjustly reprehended of Zophar. 7 God is incomprehensible. 14 He is merciful to the repentant. 18 Their assurance that live godly.
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? or should a great [a]talker be justified?
3 Should men hold their peace at thy lies? and when thou mockest others, shall none make thee ashamed?
4 For thou hast said, [b]My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
5 But, oh that God would speak and open his lips against thee!
6 That he might show thee the [c]secrets of wisdom how thou hast deserved double, according to right: know therefore that God hath forgotten thee for thine iniquity.
7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to his perfection?
8 The heavens are high, what canst thou do? [d]it is deeper than the hell, how canst thou know it?
9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and it is broader than the Sea.
10 If he cut off and [e]shut up, or gather together, who can turn him back?
11 For he knoweth vain men, and seeth iniquity, and him that understandeth nothing.
12 Yet vain man would be wise, though man newborn is like a wild [f]ass colt.
13 If thou [g]prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him:
14 If iniquity be in thine [h]hand, put it far away, and let no wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacle.
15 Then truly shalt thou lift up thy [i]face without spot, and shalt be stable, and shalt not fear.
16 But thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that are past.
17 Thine age also shall appear more clear than the noon day: thou shalt shine and be as the morning.
18 And thou shalt be bold, because there is hope: and thou shalt dig pits, and shalt lie down safely.
19 (A)For when thou takest thy rest, none shall make thee afraid: yea, many shall make suit unto thee.
20 But the eyes [j]of the wicked shall fail, and their refuge shall perish, and their hope shall be sorrow of mind.
Footnotes
- Job 11:2 Should he persuade by his great talk, that he is just?
- Job 11:4 He chargeth Job with this, that he should say, that the thing which he spake was true, and that he was without sin in the sight of God.
- Job 11:6 Which is not to stand in justifying of thyself: he signifieth that man will never be overcome, while he reasoneth with another, and therefore God must break off the controversy, and stop man’s mouth.
- Job 11:8 That is, this perfection of God, and if man be not able to comprehend the height of the heaven, the depth of hell, the length of the earth, the breadth of the Sea, which are but creatures: how can he attain to the perfection of the Creator?
- Job 11:10 If God should turn the state of things, and establish a new order in nature, who could control him?
- Job 11:12 That is, without understanding: so that whatsoever gifts he hath afterward, come of God, and not of nature.
- Job 11:13 If thou repent, pray unto him.
- Job 11:14 Renounce thine own evil works, and see that they offend not God, over whom thou hast charge.
- Job 11:15 He declareth what quietness of conscience and success in all things such shall have, which turn to God by true repentance.
- Job 11:20 He showeth that contrary things shall come unto them that do not repent.