The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Job
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Chapter 11
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1
Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:
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Ready to speak should be ready to listen; glibness will not make an innocent man of thee.
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Must all keep silence till thou hast done; shall none make answer to thy raillery?
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Still thou wilt have it that all thy dealings✻ are upright, that thy heart, as God sees it, is pure.
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Would he but speak one word in thy ear, make thee his confidant!
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Would he but reveal to thee the secrets of his wisdom, in its ordered variety! Then wouldst thou learn that the penalty he is exacting of thee is less, far less, than thy sins deserve.
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What, wouldst thou search out the ways of God, have knowledge unconfined of his omnipotence?
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High as heaven is that wisdom, and thy reach so small; deep as hell itself, and thy thought so shallow!
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Far as earth it stretches, wide as ocean;
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will he sweep them all away, or confine them all in a little space, there is no gainsaying him.
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He knows the false hearts of men, sees wickedness there, and wouldst thou have him overlook it?
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Poor fools, that will have a mind of their own, and think they were born free as the wild ass!
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But see, thy heart once guided aright, thy hands outspread to him in prayer,
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thou hast but to cleanse thy hands of their wrong-doing, rid thy dwelling-place of the guilt that defies it.
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Then thou mayst lift up thy head again, free from reproach, waver no more, tremble no more.
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These miseries of thine shall be forgotten, or remembered gratefully, like floods that are overpast.
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Radiance of noon shall dispel twilight, dawn shall rise where darkness seemed to envelop thee;
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fresh confidence shall be thine, fresh hope; hidden away in safety✻ thou shalt sleep secure;
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and that rest of thine, none shall disturb, suitors a many shall come to court thy favour.
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The godless another doom awaits; their eyes shall grow faint with watching, and no rescue shall ever reach them; no other prospect they have but despair.
