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11 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,

“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered?
    Should a man full of talk be justified?
Should your boastings make men hold their peace?
    When you mock, will no man make you ashamed?
For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure.
    I am clean in your eyes.’
But oh that God would speak,
    and open his lips against you,
that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!
    For true wisdom has two sides.
    Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

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Zophar Accuses Job

11 Zophar from Naamath had this to say:

“Shouldn’t a multitude of words be answered,
    or a person who talks too much[a] be vindicated?
Will your irrational babble silence people,
    and when you mock them,
        will you escape without being shamed?[b]
You’ve said, ‘My teaching is flawless;
    I’m clean[c] in God’s[d] sight.’

“But what if God were to speak?
    What if he were[e] to talk[f] with you,
and disclose his wise secrets?
After all, there’s so much more[g] to understanding.
    So be aware that God will exact from you
        less than your sin deserves.”

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Footnotes

  1. Job 11:2 Or a talker
  2. Job 11:3 MT has without being humiliated
  3. Job 11:4 Or pure
  4. Job 11:4 Lit. your
  5. Job 11:5 The Heb. lacks What if he were
  6. Job 11:5 Lit. open his lips against
  7. Job 11:6 Lit. double