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Job 11

Job 10Job 12

Job 11 International Standard Version (ISV)

Zophar Accuses Job

11 Zophar from Naamath had this to say:

2 “Shouldn’t a multitude of words be answered,
    or a person who talks too much[a] be vindicated?
3 Will your irrational babble silence people,
    and when you mock them,
        will you escape without being shamed?[b]
4 You’ve said, ‘My teaching is flawless;
    I’m clean[c] in God’s[d] sight.’

5 “But what if God were to speak?
    What if he were[e] to talk[f] with you,
6 and disclose his wise secrets?
After all, there’s so much more[g] to understanding.
    So be aware that God will exact from you
        less than your sin deserves.”

God’s Wisdom is Unfathomable

7 “Can you search through God’s complex things?
    Can you uncover the limits of the Almighty?
8 These things are higher than the heavens,
    so what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol,[h]
    so what can you know?
9 They are longer than the earth’s circumference,[i]
    and broader than the ocean.

10 “If he bypasses, or imprisons, or convenes a court,[j]
    who can stop[k] him?
11 For he knows mankind’s[l] deceitfulness;
    when he sees iniquity, won’t he himself consider it?
12 An empty-headed person will gain understanding
    when a wild donkey is born a human being!”

Zophar Counsels Job to Repent

13 “Now for you, if you will prepare your heart,
    spread out your hands to him.
14 If you have any iniquity, throw it far away.
    Don’t let evil[m] live in your residence.[n]
15 Then your confidence will be flawless,
    and your security will keep you from terror.
16 You’ll forget your suffering;
    you’ll remember it like water that has evaporated.[o]
17 Your life will be brighter than noonday.
    Even its darkness will be like dawn.
18 You’ll be secure, because there is hope;
    you’ll see that you’re at rest and safe.
19 When you sleep, there’ll be nothing to fear;
    and many will court your favor.[p]
20 But what the wicked look for will fail;
    their way of escape will be taken away[q] from them;
        their only hope is to take their final breath.”[r]

Footnotes:

  1. Job 11:2 Or a talker
  2. Job 11:3 MT has without being humiliated
  3. Job 11:4 Or pure
  4. Job 11:4 Lit. your
  5. Job 11:5 The Heb. lacks What if he were
  6. Job 11:5 Lit. open his lips against
  7. Job 11:6 Lit. double
  8. Job 11:8 I.e. the place where the dead are in the afterlife
  9. Job 11:9 Lit. measure
  10. Job 11:10 The Heb. lacks a court
  11. Job 11:10 Or repel
  12. Job 11:11 Lit. men
  13. Job 11:14 Or wrong
  14. Job 11:14 Lit. tents
  15. Job 11:16 Or has flowed past
  16. Job 11:19 Lit. face
  17. Job 11:20 Lit. destroyed
  18. Job 11:20 Lit. is to breathe out their soul
International Standard Version (ISV)

Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.

Job 11 New International Version (NIV)

Zophar

11 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2 “Are all these words to go unanswered?
    Is this talker to be vindicated?
3 Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
    Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
4 You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless
    and I am pure in your sight.’
5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
    that he would open his lips against you
6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
    for true wisdom has two sides.
    Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do?
    They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?
9 Their 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?
11 Surely he recognizes deceivers;
    and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
12 But the witless can no more become wise
    than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.[a]

13 “Yet if you devote your heart to him
    and stretch out your hands to him,
14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand
    and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
    you will stand firm and without fear.
16 You will surely forget your trouble,
    recalling it only as waters gone by.
17 Life will be brighter than noonday,
    and darkness will become like morning.
18 You will be secure, because there is hope;
    you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
    and many will court your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
    and escape will elude them;
    their hope will become a dying gasp.”

Footnotes:

  1. Job 11:12 Or wild donkey can be born tame
New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
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