Job 11-12

Job 11

¹Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,

²“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?

³Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, will no man make you ashamed?

⁴For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.’

⁵But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,

⁶that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

⁷“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

¹¹For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it.

¹²An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt.

¹³“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don’t let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without spot. Yes, you will be steadfast, and will not fear,

¹⁶for you will forget your misery. You will remember it like waters that have passed away.

¹⁷Life will be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it will be as the morning.

¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you will search, and will take your rest in safety.

¹⁹Also you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid. Yes, many will court your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”

Job 12

¹Then Job answered,

²“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?

⁴I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

⁵In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

⁷“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who doesn’t know that in all these, the LORD’s hand has done this,

¹⁰in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

¹¹Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

¹²With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.

¹³“With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

¹⁵Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

¹⁸He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.

²²He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

²³He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.