Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and ZOPHAR the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

1. Then ZOPHAR, the Naamathite, answered,

2. "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered?Should a man full of talk be justified?

3. Should your boastings make men hold their peace?When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?

4. For you say, 'My doctrine is pure.I am clean in your eyes.'

5. But oh that God would speak,and open his lips against you,

6. 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.

7. "Can you fathom the mystery of God?Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

8. They are high as heaven. What can you do?They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

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

10. If he passes by, or confines,or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

11. For he knows false men.He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.

12. An empty-headed man becomes wisewhen a man is born as a wild donkey's colt.

13. "If you set your heart aright,stretch out your hands toward him.

14. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

15. Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot;Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:

16. for you shall forget your misery.You shall remember it like waters that have passed away.

17. Life shall be clearer than the noonday.Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

18. You shall be secure, because there is hope.Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.

19. Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid.Yes, many shall court your favor.

20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail.They shall have no way to flee.Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

1. Then ZOPHAR the Naamathite answered,

2. "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,even by reason of my haste that is in me.

3. I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.The spirit of my understanding answers me.

4. Don't you know this from old time,since man was placed on earth,

5. that the triumphing of the wicked is short,the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6. Though his height mount up to the heavens,and his head reach to the clouds,

7. yet he shall perish forever like his own dung.Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'

8. He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found.Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.

9. The eye which saw him shall see him no more,neither shall his place any more see him.

10. His children shall seek the favor of the poor.His hands shall give back his wealth.

11. His bones are full of his youth,but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.

12. "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,though he hide it under his tongue,

13. though he spare it, and will not let it go,but keep it still within his mouth;

14. yet his food in his bowels is turned.It is cobra venom within him.

15. He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.God will cast them out of his belly.

16. He shall suck cobra venom.The viper's tongue shall kill him.

17. He shall not look at the rivers,the flowing streams of honey and butter.

18. That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down.According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

19. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

20. "Because he knew no quietness within him,he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.

21. There was nothing left that he didn't devour,therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

22. In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.

23. When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.It will rain on him while he is eating.

24. He shall flee from the iron weapon.The bronze arrow shall strike him through.

25. He draws it out, and it comes out of his body.Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.Terrors are on him.

26. All darkness is laid up for his treasures.An unfanned fire shall devour him.It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

27. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity.The earth shall rise up against him.

28. The increase of his house shall depart.They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.

29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God,the heritage appointed to him by God."

7. It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.

8. Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has."

9. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and ZOPHAR the Naamathite went, and did what the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job.