Job 20

Zophar Speaks

20Then Zophar the Naamathite ^hreplied:

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

because I am upset! ⁱ

³I have heard a rebuke that insults me,

and my understanding ^jmakes me reply. ^k

⁴Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,

from the time man was placed on earth,

⁵the joy of the wicked has been brief

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

⁶Though his arrogance reaches heaven,

and his head touches the clouds, ^m

⁷he will vanish forever like his own dung.

Those who know ⁿhim will ask, “Where is he?” ^o

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

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

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

and his household will no longer see him. ^r

¹⁰His children will beg from ^sthe poor,

for his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones may be full of youthful vigor,

but will lie down with him in the grave. ^t

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, ^u

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 ^vwill kill him. ^w

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers flowing with honey and cream. ^x

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. ^y

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, ^z

he does not let anything he desires escape.

²¹Nothing is left for him to consume; ^a

therefore, his prosperity will not last.

²²At the height of his success ^bdistress will come to him; ^c

the full weight of misery ^dwill crush him.

²³When he fills his stomach,

God will send His burning anger against him,

raining ^eit down on him while he is eating. ^f

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. ^g

Terrors come over him. ^h

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.

A fire unfanned by human hands will consume ⁱhim;

it will feed on what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity, ^j

and the earth will rise up against him. ^k

²⁸The possessions in his house will be removed,

flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the wicked man’s lot ^lfrom God,

the inheritance God ordained for him.