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[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.
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