Job 20–21

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

20Then ^cZophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my ^dthoughts answer me,

because of my haste within me.

³I hear censure that insults me,

and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

⁴Do you not know this from of old,

^esince man was placed on earth,

^5fthat the exulting of the wicked is short,

and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

^6gThough his height mount up to the heavens,

and his head reach to the clouds,

⁷he will perish forever like his own ^hdung;

those who have seen him will say, ⁱ‘Where is he?’

⁸He will fly away like ^ja dream and not be found;

he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

^9kThe eye that saw him will see him no more,

nor will his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,

and his hands will ^lgive back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his ^myouthful vigor,

but it will lie ⁿdown with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

though he hides it ^ounder his tongue,

¹³though he is loath to let it go

and holds it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet his food is turned in his stomach;

it is the venom of ^pcobras within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;

^qthe tongue of a viper will kill him.

¹⁷He will not look upon ^rthe rivers,

the streams flowing with ^shoney and ^tcurds.

¹⁸He will ^ugive back the fruit of his toil

and will not ^vswallow it down;

from the profit of his trading

he will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;

he has seized a house that he did not build.

²⁰“Because he ^wknew no ^xcontentment in his belly,

^yhe will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

²¹There was nothing left after he had eaten;

therefore his prosperity will not endure.

²²In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;

the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

²³To fill his belly to the full,

God¹ will send his burning anger against him

and rain it upon him ^zinto his body.

^24aHe will flee from an iron weapon;

^ba bronze arrow will strike ^chim through.

²⁵It ^dis drawn forth and comes out of his body;

^ethe glittering point comes out of his ^fgallbladder;

^gterrors come upon him.

²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;

^ha fire not fanned will devour him;

what is left in his tent will be consumed.

²⁷ⁱThe heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The possessions of his house will be carried away,

dragged off in the day of God’s² wrath.

^29jThis is the wicked man’s portion from God,

^jthe heritage decreed for him by God.”

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

21Then Job answered and said:

^2k“Keep listening to my words,

and let this be your comfort.

³Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, ^lmock on.

⁴As for me, is my ^mcomplaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled,

and ⁿlay your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I remember, I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

^7oWhy do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their ^poffspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are ^qsafe from fear,

and ^rno rod of God is upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and ^sdoes not miscarry.

¹¹They send out their ^tlittle boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

¹²They sing to ^uthe tambourine and ^vthe lyre

and rejoice to the sound of ^vthe pipe.

¹³They ^wspend their days in prosperity,

and in ^xpeace they go down to ^ySheol.

¹⁴They say to God, ^z‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

^15aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what ^bprofit do we get if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

^cThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is it that ^dthe lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God¹ distributes pains in his anger?

¹⁸That they are like ^estraw before the wind,

and like ^fchaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, ‘God ^gstores up their iniquity for their ^hchildren.’

Let him pay it out to them, that they may ⁱknow it.

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them ^jdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care for their houses after them,

when ^kthe number of their months is cut off?

^22lWill any teach God knowledge,

seeing that he ^mjudges those who are on high?

²³One dies in his full vigor,

being wholly at ease and secure,

²⁴his pails² full of milk

and ⁿthe marrow of his bones moist.

²⁵Another dies in ^obitterness of soul,

never having tasted of prosperity.

²⁶They ^plie down alike in the dust,

and ^qthe worms cover them.

²⁷“Behold, I know your thoughts

and your schemes to wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ^r‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is ^sthe tent in which the wicked lived?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads,

and do you not accept their testimony

³⁰that ^tthe evil man is spared in the day of calamity,

that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares his way ^uto his face,

and who ^vrepays him for what he has done?

³²When he is ^wcarried to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

^33xThe clods of the valley are sweet to him;

^yall mankind follows after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?

There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”