9:13 Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day"s decree, and let Haman"s ten sons be hanged on the gallows."
9:14 The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman"s ten sons. 9:15 The Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan; but they didn"t lay their hand on the spoil. 9:16 The other Jews who were in the king"s provinces gathered themselves together, defended their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they didn"t lay their hand on the plunder. 9:17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 9:18 But the Jews who were in Shushan a.s.sembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another. 9:20 Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, 9:21 to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly, 9:22 as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy. 9:23 The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them; 9:24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast "Pur,"
that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; 9:25 but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 9:26 Therefore they called these days "Purim," from the word "Pur." Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, 9:27 the Jews established, and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants, and on all those who joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to what was written, and according to its appointed time, every year; 9:28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memory of them perish from their seed.
9:29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
9:30 He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 9:31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had decreed, and as they had imposed upon themselves and their descendants, in the matter of the fastings and their cry. 9:32 The commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
10:1 King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the islands of the sea. 10:2 All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, aren"t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the mult.i.tude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his descendants.
Notes:
[1] back to 9:26 Purim is the Hebrew plural for pur, which means lot.
Job
1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared G.o.d, and turned away from evil. 1:2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 1:3 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. 1:4 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 1:5 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced G.o.d in their hearts." Job did so continually.
1:6 Now it happened on the day when the G.o.d"s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them. 1:7 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
1:8 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears G.o.d, and turns away from evil."
1:9 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Does Job fear G.o.d for nothing? 1:10 Haven"t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 1:11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face."
1:12 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power.
Only on himself don"t put forth your hand."
So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh. 1:13 It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother"s house, 1:14 that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, 1:15 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."
1:16 While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of G.o.d has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."
1:17 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
1:18 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother"s house, 1:19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."
1:20 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. 1:21 He said, "Naked I came out of my mother"s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh." 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge G.o.d with wrongdoing.
2:1 Again it happened on the day when the G.o.d"s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. 2:2 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
2:3 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears G.o.d, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."
2:4 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 2:5 But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."
2:6 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."
2:7 So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. 2:8 He took for himself a potsherd to sc.r.a.pe himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity?
Renounce G.o.d, and die."
2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of G.o.d, and shall we not receive evil?"
In all this Job didn"t sin with his lips. 2:11 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. 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn"t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. 2:13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
3:1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
3:2 Job answered:
3:3 "Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, "There is a boy conceived." 3:4 Let that day be darkness. Don"t let G.o.d from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it. 3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it. 3:6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. 3:7 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein. 3:8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan. 3:9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning, 3:10 because it didn"t shut up the doors of my mother"s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes. 3:11 "Why didn"t I die from the womb? Why didn"t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me? 3:12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck? 3:13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest, 3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves; 3:15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 3:16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light. 3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest. 3:18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They don"t hear the voice of the taskmaster. 3:19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master. 3:20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul, 3:21 Who long for death, but it doesn"t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 3:22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? 3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom G.o.d has hedged in? 3:24 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water. 3:25 For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me. 3:26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes." 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
4:2 "If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? 4:3 Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands. 4:4 Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees. 4:5 But now it is come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled. 4:6 Isn"t your piety your confidence? Isn"t the integrity of your ways your hope? 4:7 "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off? 4:8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same. 4:9 By the breath of G.o.d they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed. 4:10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 4:11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
4:12 "Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it. 4:13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 4:14 fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. 4:15 Then a spirit pa.s.sed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. 4:16 It stood still, but I couldn"t discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying, 4:17 "Shall mortal man be more just than G.o.d? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? 4:18 Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.
He charges his angels with error. 4:19 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! 4:20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it. 4:21 Isn"t their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom." 5:1 "Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? 5:2 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple. 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. 5:4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, 5:5 whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance. 5:6 For affliction doesn"t come forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground; 5:7 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 5:8 "But as for me, I would seek G.o.d. I would commit my cause to G.o.d, 5:9 who does great things that can"t be fathomed, marvelous things without number; 5:10 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields; 5:11 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety. 5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can"t perform their enterprise. 5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. 5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night. 5:15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty. 5:16 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. 5:17 "Behold, happy is the man whom G.o.d corrects.
Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. 5:18 For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole. 5:19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you. 5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword. 5:21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. 5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth. 5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you. 5:24 You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing. 5:25 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the gra.s.s of the earth. 5:26 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season. 5:27 Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good." 6:1 Then Job answered,
6:2 "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash. 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of G.o.d set themselves in array against me. 6:5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has gra.s.s? Or does the ox low over his fodder? 6:6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 6:7 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me. 6:8 "Oh that I might have my request, that G.o.d would grant the thing that I long for, 6:9 even that it would please G.o.d to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! 6:10 Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn"t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient? 6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bra.s.s? 6:13 Isn"t it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me? 6:14 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 6:15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pa.s.s away; 6:16 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself. 6:17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 6:18 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish. 6:19 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them. 6:20 They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded. 6:21 For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. 6:22 Did I say, "Give to me?" or, "Offer a present for me from your substance?" 6:23 or, "Deliver me from the adversary"s hand?" or, "Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?" 6:24 "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 6:25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove? 6:26 Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind? 6:27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. 6:28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face. 6:29 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again.
My cause is righteous. 6:30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Can"t my taste discern mischievous things? 7:1 "Isn"t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren"t his days like the days of a hired hand? 7:2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages, 7:3 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me. 7:4 When I lie down, I say, "When shall I arise, and the night be gone?" I toss and turn until the dawning of the day. 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh. 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle, and are spent without hope. 7:7 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good. 7:8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be. 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more. 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. 7:11 "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 7:12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me? 7:13 When I say, "My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;" 7:14 then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions: 7:15 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. 7:16 I loathe my life. I don"t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. 7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, 7:18 that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? 7:19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? 7:20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
7:21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be." 8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
8:2 "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 8:3 Does G.o.d pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? 8:4 If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. 8:5 If you want to seek G.o.d diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. 8:6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. 8:7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. 8:8 "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. 8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) 8:10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? 8:11 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? 8:12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. 8:13 So are the paths of all who forget G.o.d. The hope of the G.o.dless man shall perish, 8:14 Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider"s web. 8:15 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand.
He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure. 8:16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden. 8:17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. 8:18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, "I have not seen you." 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring. 8:20 "Behold, G.o.d will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evil-doers. 8:21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. 8:22 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."
9:1 Then Job answered,
9:2 "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with G.o.d? 9:3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can"t answer him one time in a thousand. 9:4 G.o.d who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered? 9:5 He removes the mountains, and they don"t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble. 9:7 He commands the sun, and it doesn"t rise, and seals up the stars. 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea. 9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 9:10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number. 9:11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don"t see him. He pa.s.ses on also, but I don"t perceive him. 9:12 Behold, he s.n.a.t.c.hes away.
Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, "What are you doing?" 9:13 "G.o.d will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?
9:15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn"t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge. 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn"t believe that he listened to my voice. 9:17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 9:18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, "Who,"
says he, "will summon me?" 9:20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
9:21 I am blameless. I don"t regard myself. I despise my life. 9:22 "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. 9:23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? 9:25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good, 9:26 They have pa.s.sed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. 9:27 If I say, "I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;" 9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent. 9:29 I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? 9:30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, 9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me. 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. 9:33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. 9:34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; 9:35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself. 10:1 "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 10:2 I will tell G.o.d, "Do not condemn me.
Show me why you contend with me. 10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked? 10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees? 10:5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man"s years, 10:6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? 10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand. 10:8 ""Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me. 10:9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
10:10 Haven"t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 10:12 You have granted me life and loving kindness.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit. 10:13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you: 10:14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity. 10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction. 10:16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me. 10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me. 10:18 ""Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. 10:19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. 10:20 Aren"t my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, 10:21 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; 10:22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight."" 11:1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
11:2 "Shouldn"t the mult.i.tude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified? 11:3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace?
When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed? 11:4 For you say, "My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes." 11:5 But oh that G.o.d would speak, and open his lips against you, 11:6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that G.o.d exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves. 11:7 "Can you fathom the mystery of G.o.d? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 11:8 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol.