1: And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, 2: Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified? 3: Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make [thee] ashamed? 4: For thou sayest, 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: 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! 7: Canst thou by searching find out God? 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? 9: The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. 10: If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him? 11: For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when [man] doth not consider it; 12: Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of a wild ass. 13: If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him, 14: If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents; 15: Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear: 16: For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it; 17: And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning, 18: And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety. 19: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour. 20: 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.
