Job 20–21

Chapter 20

Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

²Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

³The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

⁴This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

⁵That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

⁶If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

⁷In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?

⁸As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

⁹The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.

¹¹His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

¹²For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

¹³He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

¹⁴His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,

¹⁵The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

¹⁷Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.

¹⁸He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

¹⁹Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

²⁰And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

²¹There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

²²When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

²³May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

²⁴He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

²⁵The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.

²⁶All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Chapter 21

Then Job answered, and said:

²Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.

³Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words.

⁴Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?

⁵Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.

⁶As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

⁷Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?

⁸Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children’s children in their sight.

⁹Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.

¹⁰Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.

¹¹Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.

¹²They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.

¹⁴Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

¹⁶Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

¹⁷How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?

¹⁸They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth.

¹⁹God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.

²⁰His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?

²²Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

²³One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.

²⁴His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

²⁵But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:

²⁶And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.

²⁷Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.

²⁸For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

²⁹Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.

³⁰Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

³¹Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

³²He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

³³He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.

³⁴How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth?