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- Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
- "Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated?
- Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
- You say to God, 'My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.'
- Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you
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- Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
- Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
- Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
- For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
- But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;
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- and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
- "Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- They are higher than the heavens--what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave --what can you know?
- Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.
- "If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
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- And 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.
- Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
- It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
- The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
- If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?
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- Surely he recognizes deceitful men; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
- But a witless man can no more become wise than a wild donkey's colt can be born a man.
- "Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him,
- if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
- then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.
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- For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?
- For vain men would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.
- If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
- If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
- For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:
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- You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.
- Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning.
- You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
- You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.
- But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp."
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- Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:
- And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
- And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
- Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.
- But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
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