The Book of JOB - Chapter Eleven

1

 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: 

2 

‘Are all these words to go unanswered?
    Is this talker to be vindicated?

3 

Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
    Will no one rebuke you when you mock?

4 

You say to God, “My beliefs are flawless
    and I am pure in your sight.”

5 

Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
    that he would open his lips against you

6 

and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
    for true wisdom has two sides.
    Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

7 

‘Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

8 

They are higher than the heavens above – what can you do?
    They are deeper than the depths below – 

what can you know?

9 

Their measure is longer than the earth
    and wider than the sea.

10 

‘If he comes along and confines you in prison
    and convenes a court, who can oppose him?

11 

Surely he recognises deceivers;
    and when he sees evil, does he not take note?

12 

But the witless can no more become wise
    than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.

13 

‘Yet if you devote your heart to him
    and stretch out your hands to him,

14 

if you put away the sin that is in your hand
    and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,

15 

then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
    you will stand firm and without fear.

16 

You will surely forget your trouble,
    recalling it only as waters gone by.

17 

Life will be brighter than noonday,
    and darkness will become like morning.

18 

You will be secure, because there is hope;
    you will look about you and take your rest in safety.

19 

You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
    and many will court your favour.

20 

But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
    and escape will elude them;
    their hope will become a dying gasp.’

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READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter Eleven

Read by David Suchet

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OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project)

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STUDIES 

The Book Of JOB

David Pawson

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The Book of JOB - Chapter Ten

1

‘I loathe my very life;
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

2 

I say to God: do not declare me guilty,
    but tell me what charges you have against me.

3 

Does it please you to oppress me,
    to spurn the work of your hands,
    while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

4 

Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as a mortal sees?

5 

Are your days like those of a mortal
    or your years like those of a strong man,

6 

that you must search out my faults
    and probe after my sin –

7 

though you know that I am not guilty
    and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

8 

‘Your hands shaped me and made me.
    Will you now turn and destroy me?

9 

Remember that you moulded me like clay.
    Will you now turn me to dust again?

10 

Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese,

11 

clothe me with skin and flesh
    and knit me together with bones and sinews?

12 

You gave me life and showed me kindness,
    and in your providence watched over my spirit.

13 

‘But this is what you concealed in your heart,
    and I know that this was in your mind:

14 

if I sinned, you would be watching me
    and would not let my offence go unpunished.

15 

If I am guilty – woe to me!
    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
    and drowned in my affliction.

16 

If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
    and again display your awesome power against me.

17 

You bring new witnesses against me
    and increase your anger towards me;
    your forces come against me wave upon wave.

18 

‘Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
    I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

19 

If only I had never come into being,
    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

20 

Are not my few days almost over?
    Turn away from me so that I can have a moment’s joy

21 

before I go to the place of no return,
    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,

22 

to the land of deepest night,
    of utter darkness and disorder,
    where even the light is like darkness.’

-=-=-=-=-
READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter Ten

Read by David Suchet

-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-

STUDIES 

The Book Of JOB

David Pawson

-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-