Job 11
The full text of Job 11 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 Should a flood of words go unanswered,
or should a talker be vindicated?
3 Will your babbling silence others?
Shall you mock, and no one shame you?
4 For you say, 'My teaching is pure,
and I am clean in your eyes.'
5 But oh, that God would speak,
that he would open his lips to you,
6 and tell you the secrets of wisdom —
for wisdom has two sides!
Know then that God exacts of you
less than your guilt deserves.
7 Can you search out the deep things of God?
Can you find the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than heaven — what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?
9 Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
10 If he passes through and imprisons
and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
11 For he knows deceitful men;
he sees iniquity — will he not take note?
12 But a hollow man will get understanding
when a wild donkey's colt is born human.
13 If you direct your heart aright
and stretch out your hands to him —
14 if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and let no injustice dwell in your tent —
15 then surely you will lift up your face free of blemish;
you will be steadfast and unafraid.
16 For you will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed.
17 And your life will rise brighter than the noonday;
your darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will trust, because there is hope;
you will look around and lie down in safety.
19 You will lie down, and none will frighten you,
and many will court your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all escape will be lost to them,
and their hope: a last breath.
Translation notes (5)
- Job 11:6a Kiplayim (כִּפְלַיִם), a dual form meaning 'double' or 'twofold', is rendered here as 'two sides'. The Hebrew phrase is obscure; Zophar's point seems to be that true wisdom, tushiyah, is manifold, having hidden dimensions beyond what Job perceives. Some interpreters instead take the dual to mean that wisdom is double what Job supposes.
- Job 11:8a Hebrew sheol, 'underworld' (שְׁאוֹל), denotes the realm of the dead rather than a place of punishment; the Septuagint typically has hades, 'underworld'. Its pairing here with 'heaven' marks cosmic extremes.
- Job 11:12a The Hebrew of this proverbial line is notoriously obscure. Navuv, 'hollow', paired with yillavev, literally 'will get heart', puns on lev, 'heart', the seat of understanding. The final clause can also be construed as 'man is born a wild donkey's colt'; the rendering here takes Zophar to state an impossibility: the empty-headed will gain sense only when a donkey is born human.
- Job 11:17a The Hebrew form ta'ufah (תָּעֻפָה) appears only here and can be read either as a noun, 'darkness', or as a verb from a root meaning 'to fly, soar'; the King James tradition took the latter, 'thou shalt shine forth'. This translation reads it as darkness, so that the line promises gloom itself will become like morning, matching the noonday image of the first half.
- Job 11:20a The Hebrew mappach-nephesh, literally 'a breathing out of the soul', occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The image is of life expiring with a final exhalation, so the hope of the wicked amounts to nothing more than a dying gasp, rendered here as 'a last breath'.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is a new translation of the Bible prepared by Trinity Bible — rendered from the original Hebrew and faithful to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. Finished in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation you can read today, and it is available only through Trinity Bible. All 66 books, including Job, are free to read on this site.
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