Job 11

Tree of Life Version

² “Should so many words go unanswered?
    Is a man justified by his lips?
³ Will your idle talk silence men
    and will no one rebuke you when you mock?
⁴ For you have said,
    ‘My teaching is flawless’
    and ‘I am pure in Your eyes!’
⁵ But if only God would speak
    and open His lips against you,
⁶ and show you the secrets of wisdom—
    for sound wisdom has two sides.
Know that God has forgotten some of your iniquity.

⁷ “Can you discover the mysteries of God?
    Can you find the limits of Shaddai?
⁸ They are higher than the heavens
    —what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol
    —what can you know?
⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth
    and wider than the sea.

¹⁰ “If He comes by and imprisons, or convenes a court,
    who can prevent Him?
¹¹ For He knows deceitful men;
    when He sees wickedness, does he not consider it?
¹² But a witless man will gain understanding
when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being?

¹³ “If you devote your heart to Him
    and spread out your hands to Him,
¹⁴ if you put away the wickedness that is in your hand,
and allow no iniquity to abide in your tent,
¹⁵ then you will lift up your face without reproach;
you will stand firm and without fear.
¹⁶ You will forget your trouble;
    you will remember it like water that has flowed away.
¹⁷ Life will be brighter than noonday;
    darkness like the morning.
¹⁸ You will be confident, because there is hope;
you will look about you and lie down in safety.
¹⁹ You will lie down with no one to make you afraid,
    many will seek your favor.
²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
    and escape will elude them;
    their only hope is their dying breath.”^[a]