The discourse of Zophar

¹ Zophar the Naamithite spoke: ² Must these words go unanswered?

Must you be right for talking so much?

³ Will your prattle keep us silent?

Will no one answer your mocking?

⁴ You say to God that your way is right,

that you are clean in his sight.

⁵ How I wish that God would speak

and open his lips against you,

⁶ to show you the secrets of wisdom

which put intelligence to shame,

then you would know

that God is recalling your sins.

⁷ Can you fathom the mysteries of God,

probe the extent of his perfection?

⁸ It is higher than heaven –

what can you do?

Deeper than the world of death –

what can you know?

⁹ Its measure is wider than the earth,

broader than the sea.

¹⁰ Who can stop him when he passes,

when he imprisons and calls to judgment?

¹¹ He sees evil; he recognizes deceit.

Will he not then take note of it?

¹² So stupid people learn to be wise

as wild donkeys become tame.

¹³ If you set your heart aright

and stretch out your hands to him,

¹⁴ if you wash your hand of sin

and allow no evil in your tent,

¹⁵ you will then raise your face in honor;

having no fear, you will feel secure.

¹⁶ You will forget your suffering

and recall it only as waters gone by.

¹⁷ Your life will be brighter than noonday

and its darkness like the morning.

¹⁸ You will be comforted, for there is hope;

you will be protected when you sleep.

¹⁹ You will lie down with no one to fear;

many will come to court your favor.

²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail;

they will lose all way of escape,

their one hope – that death will come.