Job 11

Then Zophar, the man from Naamah, answered Job. He said:

1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

NoteZophar is the third of Job's three friends and this is his first speech; Eliphaz and Bildad have each already spoken and been answered. Naamah, the place he comes from, cannot be located with any confidence today, probably somewhere in the desert country south or east of Israel, like the homelands of the other two friends.

2Should all this flood of words go unanswered? Should a man who talks this much be declared right?

2Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?

3Should your empty talk make other people keep quiet? When you mock, will no one shame you?

3Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

4For you have said, "What I teach is right, and I am clean in God's sight."

4For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.

Note"Doctrine" in 1611 English meant simply "what a person teaches," not a formal set of beliefs. Zophar is summing up Job's position in his own words rather than quoting a sentence Job actually said; Job has claimed innocence repeatedly, but not in these exact terms.

5But I wish God himself would speak, and would open his lips against you,

5But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;

6and would show you the secrets of wisdom, for real wisdom has two sides to it. Then you would know this: God is demanding less from you than your guilt deserves.

6And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

NoteThe Hebrew here is compressed and its sense is disputed. The word rendered "two sides" literally means "double" or "folded over," and translators take it variously as wisdom having two sides, wisdom being many-layered, or God's wisdom being twice what Job imagines. The rendering keeps the ambiguity rather than choosing.

7Can you search out God and find him? Can you find the limits of the Almighty, the all-powerful God?

7Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

Note"The Almighty" translates the Hebrew title Shaddai, an old name for God used far more often in Job than anywhere else in the Bible. Its original meaning is uncertain, suggestions include "of the mountain" and "the destroyer", and the traditional English "Almighty" comes from ancient translators' guesswork.

8It is higher than the heavens; what can you do about that? It is deeper than the place of the dead; what can you know about that?

8It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

Note"Hell" here is the King James rendering of Sheol, the underworld where the Hebrew Bible pictures all the dead going, good and bad alike. It is the deepest place imaginable, the opposite pole to the heavens, not a place of punishment, which is a later idea attached to the English word "hell."

9Its measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

9The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

10If God comes along and shuts a man up in prison, or calls him into court, who can stop him?

10If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?

NoteThe verse is built from courtroom and prison vocabulary. "Shut up" means to imprison; "gather together" means to convene an assembly, which in an ancient town served as the court. The picture is arrest and trial by someone against whom no appeal is possible.

11For he knows which people are worthless and false. He sees evil too. Will he not take note of it?

11For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?

12An empty-headed man will get understanding, though a human being is born no better than the colt of a wild donkey.

12For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.

NoteA proverb, and its second half is famously hard to construe. The Hebrew can mean that an empty-headed man is born no more capable of wisdom than a wild donkey's colt, or, reading it as a stated impossibility: that a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a human being. The wild donkey was the standard byword for something untamed and untamable.

13But if you set your heart right and reach out your hands to God,

13If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

NoteReaching out or spreading the hands, palms turned up, was the ordinary posture of prayer in the ancient Near East, the way kneeling or folded hands is in some cultures now. Zophar is describing the physical act of praying.

14if you put away the wrong that is in your hand, and let no evil live in your tents,

14If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

Note"Tabernacles" is 1611 English for tents. A man's tent stood for his whole household (family, servants, and property), so the phrase means letting no wrongdoing exist anywhere in what belongs to you.

15then you will be able to lift up your face without shame. You will stand firm, and you will not be afraid.

15For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

NoteA face lowered or covered was the visible mark of shame or guilt; to lift the face was to be able to meet people's eyes. "Without spot" means without blemish or stain, the language of a face unmarked by disgrace.

16You will forget your misery. You will remember it only the way you remember water that has flowed away.

16Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

NoteStreams in this dry country ran hard after rain and then dried up completely. Water "that passes away" is not water flowing steadily by but water that is simply gone, the image is of something entirely finished, not merely receding.

17Your life will be brighter than noon. Even its darkness will be like the light of morning.

17And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

Note"Age" in the King James Version means a lifetime, the length of one's life, not old age. The second half of the verse turns on a Hebrew word normally meaning darkness or gloom: even the dark stretches of Job's life would be like the growing light of dawn.

18You will feel safe, because there is hope. You will look around you and lie down in safety.

18And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.

19You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid. Many people will come asking for your favor.

19Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

Note"Make suit unto thee" means to seek your favor, the way petitioners come to a man of standing to ask a favor or a judgment, often bringing a gift. It describes restored honor in the community, the reverse of Job's present position.

20But the eyes of the wicked will grow weak. There will be no escape for them. Their only hope will be their last breath.

20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.

Note"The giving up of the ghost" is King James English for breathing one's last; "ghost" here means breath or life-spirit, not an apparition. The line says the only thing the wicked have left to look forward to is dying.