AN ARROW OFF TARGET

² “Are all these words to go unanswered?
    Is this talker to be vindicated?
³ Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
    Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
⁴ You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless
    and I am pure in your sight.’
⁵ Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
    that he would open his lips against you
⁶ and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
    for true wisdom has two sides.
    Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

⁷ “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
⁸ They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do?
    They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?
⁹ Their measure is longer than the earth
    and wider than the sea.

¹⁰ “If he comes along and confines you in prison
    and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
¹¹ Surely he recognizes deceivers;
    and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
¹² But the witless can no more become wise
    than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.^[a]

¹³ “Yet if you devote your heart to him
    and stretch out your hands to him,
¹⁴ if you put away the sin that is in your hand
    and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
¹⁵ then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
    you will stand firm and without fear.
¹⁶ You will surely forget your trouble,
    recalling it only as waters gone by.
¹⁷ Life will be brighter than noonday,
    and darkness will become like morning.
¹⁸ You will be secure, because there is hope;
    you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
¹⁹ You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
    and many will court your favor.
²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
    and escape will elude them;
    their hope will become a dying gasp.”