1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be justified?
3 Should thy lies make men be silent? Shalt thou mock, and shall no man make thee ashamed?
4 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean before thine eyes.
5 But oh, that God would speak and open his lips against thee
6 and that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For thou dost deserve double according to sound wisdom; and thou dost know that God has forgotten thee because of thine iniquity.
7 Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou come unto the perfection of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than the heavens; what canst thou do? It is deeper than Sheol; how canst thou know it?
9 The measure of it is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
10 If he cuts off, or shuts up, or gathers together, then who can hinder him?
11 For he knows the vain men; and he sees the iniquity; will he not then understand it?
12 The vain man shall make himself understood, though man is born like a wild ass’s colt.
13 If thou would prepare thine heart and stretch out thine hands toward him;
14 if there is any iniquity in thy hand and thou dost put it far away and dost not consent that wickedness dwell in thy habitations,
15 then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; thou shalt be strongly established and shalt not fear;
16 and thou shalt forget thy misery and remember it as waters that passed away;
17 and thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
18 And thou shalt trust because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig and sleep in safety;
19 thou shalt lie down, and no one shall make thee afraid; and many shall make requests unto thee.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall consume themselves, and they shall have no refuge, and their hope shall be agony of the soul.