- 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;
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- 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,
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- 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.
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