111 And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, 2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified? 3 Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make [thee] ashamed? 4 For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. 5 But oh that +God would speak, and open his lips against thee; 6 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, how that they are the double of what is realised; and know that +God passeth by [much] of thine iniquity!
7 Canst thou by searching find out +God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? 8 [It is as] the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know? 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. 10 If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him? 11 For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when [man] doth not consider it; 12 Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of a wild ass.
13 If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him, 14 If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents; 15 Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear: 16 For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it; 17 And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning, 18 And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety. 19 Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour. 20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and [all] refuge shall vanish from them, and their hope [shall be] the breathing out of life.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 11:1-21
Commentary on Job 11:1-6
(Read Job 11:1-6)
Zophar attacked Job with great vehemence. He represented him as a man that loved to hear himself speak, though he could say nothing to the purpose, and as a man that maintained falsehoods. He desired God would show Job that less punishment was exacted than he deserved. We are ready, with much assurance, to call God to act in our quarrels, and to think that if he would but speak, he would take our part. We ought to leave all disputes to the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but those are not always right who are most forward to appeal to the Divine judgment.
Commentary on Job 11:7-12
(Read Job 11:7-12)
Zophar speaks well concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly. See here what man is; and let him be humbled. God sees this concerning vain man, that he would be wise, would be thought so, though he is born like a wild ass's colt, so unteachable and untameable. Man is a vain creature; empty, so the word is. Yet he is a proud creature, and self-conceited. He would be wise, would be thought so, though he will not submit to the laws of wisdom. He would be wise, he reaches after forbidden wisdom, and, like his first parents, aiming to be wise above what is written, loses the tree of life for the tree of knowledge. Is such a creature as this fit to contend with God?
Commentary on Job 11:13-20
(Read Job 11:13-20)
Zophar exhorts Job to repentance, and gives him encouragement, yet mixed with hard thoughts of him. He thought that worldly prosperity was always the lot of the righteous, and that Job was to be deemed a hypocrite unless his prosperity was restored. Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; that is, thou mayst come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with the terror and amazement expressed in Hebrews 10:22.