Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

    “Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
        and a man full of talk be judged right?
    Should your babble silence men,
        and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
    For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure,
        and I am clean in God’s eyes.’
    But oh, that God would speak
        and open his lips to you,
    and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
        For he is manifold in understanding.
    Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
    
    
    “Can you find out the deep things of God?
        Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
    It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
        Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
    Its measure is longer than the earth
        and broader than the sea.
    If he passes through and imprisons
        and summons the court, who can turn him back?
    For he knows worthless men;
        when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
    But a stupid man will get understanding
        when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!
    
    
    “If you prepare your heart,
        you will stretch out your hands toward him.
    If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
        and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
    Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
        you will be secure and will not fear.
    You will forget your misery;
        you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
    And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
        its darkness will be like the morning.
    And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
        you will look around and take your rest in security.
    You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;
        many will court your favor.
    But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
        all way of escape will be lost to them,
        and their hope is to breathe their last.”
    
    
      Then Job answered and said:

    “No doubt you are the people,
        and wisdom will die with you.
    But I have understanding as well as you;
        I am not inferior to you.
        Who does not know such things as these?
    I am a laughingstock to my friends;
        I, who called to God and he answered me,
        a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
    In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
        it is ready for those whose feet slip.
    The tents of robbers are at peace,
        and those who provoke God are secure,
        who bring their god in their hand.
    
    
    “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
        the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
    or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
        and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
    Who among all these does not know
        that the hand of the LORD has done this?
    In his hand is the life of every living thing
        and the breath of all mankind.
    Does not the ear test words
        as the palate tastes food?
    Wisdom is with the aged,
        and understanding in length of days.
    
    
    “With God are wisdom and might;
        he has counsel and understanding.
    If he tears down, none can rebuild;
        if he shuts a man in, none can open.
    If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
        if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
    With him are strength and sound wisdom;
        the deceived and the deceiver are his.
    He leads counselors away stripped,
        and judges he makes fools.
    He looses the bonds of kings
        and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
    He leads priests away stripped
        and overthrows the mighty.
    He deprives of speech those who are trusted
        and takes away the discernment of the elders.
    He pours contempt on princes
        and loosens the belt of the strong.
    He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
        and brings deep darkness to light.
    He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
        he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
    He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
        and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
    They grope in the dark without light,
        and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
    
    
        “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
        my ear has heard and understood it.
    What you know, I also know;
        I am not inferior to you.
    But I would speak to the Almighty,
        and I desire to argue my case with God.
    As for you, you whitewash with lies;
        worthless physicians are you all.
    Oh that you would keep silent,
        and it would be your wisdom!
    Hear now my argument
        and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
    Will you speak falsely for God
        and speak deceitfully for him?
    Will you show partiality toward him?
        Will you plead the case for God?
    Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
        Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
    He will surely rebuke you
        if in secret you show partiality.
    Will not his majesty terrify you,
        and the dread of him fall upon you?
    Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
        your defenses are defenses of clay.
    
    
    “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
        and let come on me what may.
    Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
        and put my life in my hand?
    Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
        yet I will argue my ways to his face.
    This will be my salvation,
        that the godless shall not come before him.
    Keep listening to my words,
        and let my declaration be in your ears.
    Behold, I have prepared my case;
        I know that I shall be in the right.
    Who is there who will contend with me?
        For then I would be silent and die.
    Only grant me two things,
        then I will not hide myself from your face:
    withdraw your hand far from me,
        and let not dread of you terrify me.
    Then call, and I will answer;
        or let me speak, and you reply to me.
    How many are my iniquities and my sins?
        Make me know my transgression and my sin.
    Why do you hide your face
        and count me as your enemy?
    Will you frighten a driven leaf
        and pursue dry chaff?
    For you write bitter things against me
        and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
    You put my feet in the stocks
        and watch all my paths;
        you set a limit for the soles of my feet.
    Man wastes away like a rotten thing,
        like a garment that is moth-eaten. (ESV)

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

  Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (ESV)