Job 11

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

¹⁹When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

²“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

²“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.

¹⁸Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

¹¹May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.

²Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

¹⁸when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”

³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

¹⁶Cover their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord.

²“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

³Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose?

⁴You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.

⁷though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

¹⁰It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹⁵But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,

⁵For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.

⁶Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

²“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’

⁴Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?

³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

³If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.

⁴I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

¹And the Lord said to Job:

²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

¹³After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

²²Because of the loving devotion of the Lord we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

²⁸But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:

⁵which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

³⁵So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

³³O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

³Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

⁹the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

⁸Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

¹²Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

¹³Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁵Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters,

⁵With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

⁶You formed the mountains by Your power, having girded Yourself with might.

¹²If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’

¹³God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.

¹⁴What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.

⁷To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.

²⁷I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

³⁰How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?

¹⁴But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

²³Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

²⁴But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all.

²⁵He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.

¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”

²¹For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.

²²There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

⁵Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?

⁶I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.

²⁰O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?

²²I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

¹⁸I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”

⁶I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

⁹My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O Lord; I spread out my hands to You.

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

³Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁵But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

⁶if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

⁴⁷That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents

⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁷Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

²I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

³Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed.

⁴I will send it out, declares the Lord of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”

²⁶Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

¹⁹And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

²⁸And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.

⁸Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

¹Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread?

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

¹⁶Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth, and whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My sight.

²⁰For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

⁹“For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

²¹A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.

⁴Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

¹⁴“Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.

⁸Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.

¹⁸The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

⁶On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.

⁷It will be a unique day known only to the Lord, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.

³So let us know—let us press on to know the Lord. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Do not fear sudden danger or the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

⁵I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

⁸I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

⁵Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely in your land.

⁶And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.

³Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope.

¹⁴The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁴This is what the Lord says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

¹²The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; men of wealth will seek your favor.

⁶And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.

⁹As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

⁶⁵Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

¹⁶If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

⁵If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.

¹⁴His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.

²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

²⁴So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

¹⁴He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.