Job 11
Common English Bible
Zophar’s rebuke
11 Zophar from Naamah responded:
2 Should all these words go unanswered
or a wordy man be justified?
3 Will your idle talk silence everyone;
will you mock and not be put to shame?
4 You’ve said, “My teaching is pure,
and I’m clean in God’s[a] eyes.”
Divine secrecy
5 But oh, that God would speak,
open his lips against you
6 and tell you secrets of wisdom;
for sound insight has two sides.
Know that God lets some of your sin be forgotten.
7 Can you find the secret of God
or find the extent of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
Deeper than the underworld[b]—what can you know?
9 Its measurement is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If God passes by, imprisons someone, and calls a trial,
who can stop him?
11 He knows worthless people,
sees sin, and certainly[c] takes note.
12 A stupid person becomes intelligent
when a wild ass of a person is born tame.[d]
Abiding hope
13 If you make your mind resolute
and spread your palms to him,
14 if you throw out the sin in your hands
and don’t let injustice dwell in your tents,
15 then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and not fear.
16 You will forget trouble;
you will remember it as water that flows past.
17 A life span will rise brighter than noon;
darkness will be like morning.
18 You will be secure, for there is hope;
you will look around and rest safely.
19 You will lie down without anyone to scare you;
many will beg for your favor.
20 The eyes of the wicked will grow faint;
flight has vanished from them;
their hope is a dying gasp.
Job 11
Good News Translation
11 1-2 Will no one answer all this nonsense?
Does talking so much put you in the right?
3 Job, do you think we can't answer you?
That your mocking words will leave us speechless?
4 You claim that what you say is true;
you claim you are pure in the sight of God.
5 How I wish God would answer you!
6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom;
there are things too deep for human knowledge.
God is punishing you less than you deserve.
7 Can you discover the limits and bounds
of the greatness and power of God?
8 The sky is no limit for God,
but it lies beyond your reach.
God knows the world of the dead,
but you do not know it.
9 God's greatness is broader than the earth,
wider than the sea.
10 If God arrests you and brings you to trial,
who is there to stop him?
11 God knows which people are worthless;
he sees all their evil deeds.
12 Stupid people will start being wise
when wild donkeys are born tame.
13 Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God.
14 Put away evil and wrong from your home.
15 Then face the world again, firm and courageous.
16 Then all your troubles will fade from your memory,
like floods that are past and remembered no more.
17 Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon,
and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn.
18 You will live secure and full of hope;
God will protect you and give you rest.
19 You won't be afraid of your enemies;
many people will ask you for help.
20 But the wicked will look around in despair
and find that there is no way to escape.
Their one hope is that death will come.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
