Job 11

Then Zophar, Job’s friend from the town of Naamah, responded to Job. He said, 2 “I would like to respond to the long speech that you have just given. You talk a lot about how innocent you are, but that does not mean that you truly are innocent. 3 You have boasted that you are innocent, and I need to talk back in response. You have said disrespectful things about God. I need to tell you that you should be ashamed! \* 4 I need to correct you because you have told God, ‘I believe the right things, and you know that I have done the right things.’ 5 If only God would speak and say something to correct you! 6 If only God would tell you the secrets that he knows because he is so wise! {You need to realize that} God knows far more than you do. If you could understand as God does, you would realize that God is punishing you less than you deserve! \* 7 You will never be able to understand God by thinking hard about him. No, you will never be able to find out everything about Shaddai. 8 God’s wisdom is so much greater than ours, it is as if it is higher than the sky. So there is nothing you can do to understand it all. It is as if God’s wisdom is deeper below the earth than the place where dead people go. So it is impossible for you to know it all. 9 There is so much to know about God that it is as if that knowledge is longer than the earth and wider than the ocean. \* 10 If God wants to arrest you and put you on trial, no one can stop him from doing that. 11 {God is a trustworthy judge} because he knows which people have bad character. When God sees people doing wicked things, he punishes them. 12 Some people simply have no understanding. They will become wise when humans start having wild donkeys as babies{—that is, never!} \* 13 Job, I urge you to repent humbly and pray sincerely to God. 14 If you have been doing evil things, stop doing them. If you do nothing wrong in any part of your life, \* 15 then you will be able to act as a person who is not ashamed of anything. You will be strong, and you will not be afraid of anything. 16 You will not be afraid, because you will forget all the bad things that happened to you. They will all be gone, like the water that flows away down a river. 17 Your life will be happy again. It will be as if the sun were shining on you as brightly as it shines at mid-day. You have had many troubles, but they will end, just as night ends when the sun rises. \* 18 You will feel safe because you will be confident that good things will happen to you. You will think about your life and realize that you can go to bed and sleep peacefully. 19 You will lie down to sleep and nothing will scare you. Many people will come and ask you to be kind to them. \* 20 But God will punish wicked people by making them die. They will not be able to escape from God’s punishment. They will hope to live, but they will die anyway.” \*