Chapter 11

  And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,  

--

  Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified?  

--

  Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make [thee] ashamed?  

--

  For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.  

--

  But oh that +God would speak, and open his lips against thee;  

--

  And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, how that they are the double of what is realised; and know that +God passeth by [much] of thine iniquity!  

--

  Canst thou by searching find out +God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?  

--

  [It is as] the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?  

--

  The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.  

--

  If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him?  

--

  For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when [man] doth not consider it;  

--

  Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of a wild ass.  

--

  If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him,  

--

  If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents;  

--

  Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear:  

--

  For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it;  

--

  And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning,  

--

  And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety.  

--

  Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour.  

--

  But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and [all] refuge shall vanish from them, and their hope [shall be] the breathing out of life.  

--