Zophar’s rebuke

¹Zophar from Naamah responded:

²Should all these words go unanswered

or a wordy man be justified?

³Will your idle talk silence everyone;

will you mock and not be put to shame?

⁴You’ve said, “My teaching is pure,

and I’m clean in God’s eyes.”

Divine secrecy

⁵But oh, that God would speak,

open his lips against you

⁶and tell you secrets of wisdom;

Know that God lets some of your sin be forgotten.

⁷Can you find the secret of God

or find the extent of the Almighty?

⁸They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?

Deeper than the underworld—what can you know?

⁹Its measurement is longer than the earth

and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If God passes by, imprisons someone, and calls a trial,

who can stop him?

¹¹He knows worthless people,

sees sin, and certainly takes note.

¹²A stupid person becomes intelligent

when a wild ass of a person is born tame.

Abiding hope

¹³If you make your mind resolute

¹⁴if you throw out the sin in your hands

¹⁵then you will lift up your face without blemish;

¹⁶You will forget trouble;

you will remember it as water that flows past.

¹⁷A life span will rise brighter than noon;

darkness will be like morning.

¹⁸You will be secure, for there is hope;

you will look around and rest safely.

¹⁹You will lie down without anyone to scare you;

many will beg for your favor.

²⁰The eyes of the wicked will grow faint;

flight has vanished from them;

their hope is a dying gasp.