Job 20–21

ZOPHAR SPEAKS

20Then Zophar the Naamathiteⁱ replied:

²This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer,

because I am upset!^G

³I have heard a rebuke that insults me,

and my understanding^H makes me reply.^j

⁴Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,

from the time a human was placed on earth,

⁵the joy of the wicked has been brief

and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?^k

⁶Though his arrogance reaches heaven,

and his head touches the clouds,^l

⁷he will vanish forever like his own dung.

Those who know^I him will ask, “Where is he?”^m

⁸He will fly away like a dream and never be found;

he will be chased away like a vision in the night.ⁿ

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more,^o

and his household will no longer see him.^p

¹⁰His children will beg from^J the poor,

for his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹His frame may be full of youthful vigor,

but it will lie down with him in dust.^q

¹²Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth

and he conceals it under his tongue,

¹³though he cherishes it and will not let it go

but keeps it in his mouth,^r

¹⁴yet the food in his stomach turns

into cobras’ venom inside him.

¹⁵He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;

God will force it from his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;

a viper’s fangs^A will kill him.^s

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers flowing with honey and curds.^t

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;

he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

¹⁹For he oppressed and abandoned the poor;

he seized a house he did not build.^u

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied,^B

he does not let anything he desires escape.

²¹Nothing is left for him to consume;^v

therefore, his prosperity will not last.

²²At the height of his success^C distress will come to him;^a

the full weight of misery^D will crush him.

²³When he fills his stomach,

God will send his burning anger against him,

raining^b it down on him while he is eating.^E

²⁴If he flees from an iron weapon,

an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back,

the flashing tip out of his liver.^F

Terrors come over him.^c

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.

A fire unfanned by human hands will consume^d him;

it will feed on what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity,^e

and the earth will rise up against him.^f

²⁸The possessions in his house will be removed,

flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the wicked person’s lot^g from God,

the inheritance God ordained for him.

JOB’S REPLY TO ZOPHAR

21Then Job answered:

²Pay close attention to my words;

let this be the consolation you offer.

³Bear with me while I speak;

then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

⁴As for me, is my complaint^h against a human being?

Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?

⁵Look at me and shudder;ⁱ

put your hand over your mouth.^j

⁶When I think about it, I am terrified

and my body trembles^k in horror.

⁷Why do the wicked continue to live,

growing old and becoming powerful?

⁸Their children are established while they are still alive,^A

and their descendants, before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are secure and free of fear;^l

no rod from God strikes them.^m

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹They let their little ones run around like lambs;

their children skip about,

¹²singing to the tambourine and lyre

and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.ⁿ

¹³They spend^B their days in prosperity^o

and go down to Sheol in peace.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, “Leave us alone!

We don’t want to know your ways.^p

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him,

and what will we gain by pleading with him?”^q

¹⁶But their prosperity is not of their own doing.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!^r

¹⁷How often is the lamp^s of the wicked put out?

Does disaster^C come on them?

Does he apportion destruction in his anger?

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff^t a storm sweeps away?

¹⁹God reserves a person’s punishment for his children.^u

Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.

²⁰Let his own eyes see his demise;

let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!^v

²¹For what does he care about his family once he is dead,^w

when the number of his months has run out?^x

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge,^y

since he judges the exalted ones?^D

²³One person dies in excellent health,^E

completely secure^F and at ease.

²⁴His body is^A well fed,^B

and his bones are full of marrow.^C

²⁵Yet another person dies with a bitter^a soul,

having never tasted prosperity.

²⁶But they both lie in the dust,

and worms cover them.^b

²⁷I know your thoughts very well,

the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”

and “Where are the tents^c the wicked lived in?”

²⁹Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?

Don’t you accept their reports?^D

³⁰Indeed, the evil person is spared from the day of disaster,

rescued from the day of wrath.

³¹Who would denounce his behavior to his face?

Who would repay^d him for what he has done?

³²He is carried to the grave,

and someone keeps watch over his tomb.

³³The dirt on his grave is^E sweet to him.

Everyone follows behind him,

and those who go before him are without number.

³⁴So how can you offer me such futile comfort?

Your answers are deceptive.