Job 20–21

20TH CHAPTER

Zophar Speaks:

Here Is My Answer

¹Then Zophar from Naama replied ⸤to Job⸥, 

²“My disturbing thoughts make me answer, 

and because of them I am upset. 

³I have heard criticism that makes me ashamed, 

but a spirit beyond my understanding gives me answers. 

A Wicked Person’s Joy Is Short, His Pain Long

⁴“Don’t you know 

that from ancient times, 

from the time humans were placed on earth, 

⁵the triumph of the wicked is short-lived, 

and the joy of the godless person lasts only a moment? 

⁶If his height reaches to the sky 

and his head touches the clouds, 

⁷he will certainly rot^alike his own feces. 

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

⁸He will fly away like a dream and not be found. 

He will be chased away like a vision in the night. 

⁹Eyes that saw him will see him no more. 

His home will not look at him again. 

¹⁰His children will have to ask the poor for help. 

His own hands will have to give back his wealth. 

¹¹His bones, once full of youthful vigor, 

will lie down with him in the dust. 

¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth 

and he hides it under his tongue.… 

¹³Though he savors it and won’t let go of it 

and he holds it on the roof of his mouth, 

¹⁴the food in his belly turns sour. 

It becomes snake venom in his stomach. 

¹⁵He vomits up the riches that he swallowed. 

God forces them out of his stomach. 

¹⁶The godless person sucks the poison of snakes. 

A viper’s fang kills him. 

¹⁷He won’t be able to drink from the streams 

or from the rivers of honey and buttermilk. 

¹⁸He will give back what he earned without enjoying it. 

He will get no joy from the profits of his business 

¹⁹because he crushed and abandoned the poor. 

He has taken by force a house that he didn’t build. 

²⁰He will never know peace in his heart. 

He will never allow anything he desires to escape ⸤his grasp⸥. 

²¹“Nothing is left for him to eat. 

His prosperity won’t last. 

²²⸤Even⸥ with all his wealth 

the full force of misery comes down on him. 

²³Let that misery fill his belly. 

⸤God⸥ throws his burning anger at the godless person 

and makes his wrath come down on him like rain. 

²⁴If that person flees from an iron weapon, 

a bronze bow will pierce him. 

²⁵He pulls it out, and it comes out of his back. 

The glittering point comes out of his gallbladder. 

“Terrors come quickly to the godless person: 

²⁶Total darkness waits in hiding for his treasure. 

A fire that no one fans will burn him. 

Whatever is left in his tent will be devoured. 

²⁷Heaven exposes his sin. 

Earth rises up against him. 

²⁸A flood will sweep away his house, 

a flash flood on the day of his anger. 

²⁹This is the reward God gives to the wicked person, 

the inheritance God has appointed for him.” 

21ST CHAPTER

Job Speaks:

Comfort Me by Listening to Me

¹Then Job replied ⸤to his friends⸥, 

²“Listen carefully to my words, 

and let that be the comfort you offer me. 

³Bear with me while I speak. 

Then after I’ve spoken, you may go on mocking. 

⁴Am I complaining about a person? 

Why shouldn’t I be impatient? 

⁵Look at me, and be shocked, 

and put ⸤your⸥ hand over ⸤your⸥ mouth. 

⁶When I remember it, I’m terrified, 

and shuddering seizes my body. 

Wicked People Do Not Suffer for Their Sins

⁷“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, 

and even become more powerful? 

⁸They see their children firmly established with them, 

and they get to see their descendants. 

⁹Their homes are free from fear, 

and God doesn’t use his rod on them. 

¹⁰Their bulls are fertile when they breed. 

Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry. 

¹¹They send their little children out ⸤to play⸥ 

like a flock of lambs, 

and their children dance around. 

¹²They sing with the tambourine and lyre, 

and they are happy with the music of the flute. 

¹³They spend their days in happiness, 

and they go peacefully to the grave. 

¹⁴But they say to God, 

‘Leave us alone. 

We don’t want to know your ways. 

¹⁵Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? 

What do we gain if we pray to him?’ 

¹⁶Anyhow, isn’t their happiness in their own power? 

(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? 

How often does disaster happen to them? 

How often does an angry God give them pain? 

¹⁸How often are they like straw in the wind 

or like husks that the storm sweeps away? 

¹⁹“⸤You say,⸥ ‘God saves a person’s punishment for his children.’ 

God should pay back that person 

so that he would know that it is a punishment. 

²⁰His eyes should see his own ruin. 

He should drink from the wrath of the Almighty. 

²¹How can he be interested in his family after he’s gone, 

when the number of his months is cut short? 

No One Understands How God Deals with Humans

²²“Can anyone teach God knowledge? 

Can anyone judge the Most High? 

²³One person dies in his prime 

and feels altogether happy and contented. 

²⁴His stomach is full of milk, 

and his bones are strong and healthy. 

²⁵Another person, never having tasted happiness, 

dies with a bitter soul. 

²⁶Together they lie down in the dust, 

and worms cover them. 

My Friends Have Betrayed Me

²⁷“You see, I know your thoughts 

and the schemes you plot against me 

²⁸because you ask, 

‘Where is the house of the influential person? 

Where is the tent where wicked people live?’ 

²⁹Haven’t you asked travelers? 

But you didn’t pay attention to their directions. 

³⁰On the day of disaster the wicked person is spared. 

On the day of ⸤God’s⸥ anger he is rescued. 

³¹Who will tell him to his face how he lived? 

Who will pay him back for what he did? 

³²He is carried to the cemetery, 

and his grave is guarded. 

³³The soil in the creekbed is sweet to him. 

Everyone follows him. 

Countless others went before him. 

³⁴How can you comfort me with this nonsense 

when your answers continue to betray me?”