Job 11:13-20

3. The penitent will prosper; for the wicked there is no hope. (Job 11:13-20)

TEXT 11:13-20

13 If thou set thy heart aright,

And stretch oat thy hands toward him;

14 If iniquity be in thy hand, put It far away,

And let not unrighteousness dwell in thy tents.

15 Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot;

Yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

16 For thou shalt forget thy misery;

Thou shalt remember it as waters that are passed away.

17 And thy life shall be clearer than the noonday;

Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.

18 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope;

Yea, thou shalt search about thee, and shalt take thy rest in safety.

19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;

Yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, And they shall have no way to flee;

And their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost.

COMMENT 11:13-20

Job 11:13The pronoun you is emphatic in the text and contrasts Job with the hollow man of Job 11:12. Zophar calls Job to do four things: (1) Get his heart right with God; (2) Pray to God for forgiveness; (3) Reform his life style to conform to God's expectations; and (4) Set his entire household in order.

Job 11:14Put evil far away from you. Do not permit it to exist in your household.

Job 11:15Job's face will no longer bear the marks of the guilty. The word translated steadfastsecurecomes from a verb used for describing the pouring of molten metalJob 28:2; Job 37:18.

Job 11:16Here the phrase waters that are passed away is a metaphor for oblivian; in Job 6:15 it is a metaphor for treachery. Zophar has also promised Job restoration to his former prosperous state. Ultimately, Job's restoration did not come as a result of following any of the advice of his friends. You is emphatic. You will certainly forget all your misery.

Job 11:17Hope and security will be Job's once more. Your life (heledmeans durable, vigorous) will last into advanced age. The imagery of noonday is derived fromsohorayimzenithnoon. Compare this with Job's descriptions in Job 10:22of the darkness of Sheol as light.

Job 11:18Job's security (Hebrew verb means to search or dig about), Zophar claims, will be based on his removing the guilt. When Job's guilt is removed, restpeacewill result.

Job 11:19God will grant Job confidence. This same phrase none will make you afraid is also found in Micah 4:4. When Job lived in the good graces of God, he was famousJob 29:7-10, Job 21:5; compare with Job 19:18 and Job 30:1-10. When he is restored to God, his fame and respectability, social influence, will also returnIsaiah 17:2 and Zephaniah 3:13.

Job 11:20The highest hope of the unrighteous is death. The ultimate goal should be to give up the spirit, i.e., lit. to breathe out of the soul. This assertion is Zophar's not so subtle final suggestion to Job. In response, Job lashes out at his vehement sarcastic attack in Chapter s 1214.