¹And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, ²Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified? ³Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make thee ashamed? ⁴For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. ⁵But oh that †God would speak, and open his lips against thee; ⁶And 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!

⁷Canst thou by searching find out †God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? ⁸It is as the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know? ⁹The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ¹⁰If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him? ¹¹For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when man doth not consider it; ¹²Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born like the foal of a wild ass.

¹³If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him, ¹⁴If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents; ¹⁵Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear: ¹⁶For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it; ¹⁷And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning, ¹⁸And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about thee, thou shalt take rest in safety. ¹⁹Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour. ²⁰But 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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