Job 20–21

Zophar Answers

20Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“My troubled thoughts cause me to answer,

because I am very upset.

³You correct me and I am insulted,

but I understand how to answer you.

⁴“You know how it has been for a long time,

ever since people were first put on the earth.

⁵The happiness of evil people is brief,

and the joy of the wicked lasts only a moment.

⁶Their pride may be as high as the heavens,

and their heads may touch the clouds,

⁷but they will be gone forever, like their own dung.

People who knew them will say, ‘Where are they?’

⁸They will fly away like a dream

and not be found again;

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

⁹Those who saw them will not see them again;

the places where they lived will see them no more.

¹⁰Their children will have to pay back the poor,

and they will have to give up their wealth.

¹¹They had the strength of their youth in their bones,

but it will lie with them in the dust of death.

¹²“Evil may taste sweet in their mouths,

and they may hide it under their tongues.

¹³They cannot stand to let go of it;

they keep it in their mouths.

¹⁴But their food will turn sour in their stomachs,

like the poison of a snake inside them.

¹⁵They have swallowed riches, but they will spit them out;

God will make them vomit their riches up.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of snakes,

and the snake’s fangs will kill them.

¹⁷They will not admire the sparkling streams

or the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸They must give back what they worked for without eating it;

they will not enjoy the money they made from their trading,

¹⁹because they troubled the poor and left them with nothing.

They have taken houses they did not build.

²⁰“Evil people never lack an appetite,

and nothing escapes their selfishness.

²¹But nothing will be left for them to eat;

their riches will not continue.

²²When they still have plenty, trouble will catch up to them,

and great misery will come down on them.

²³When the wicked fill their stomachs,

God will send his burning anger against them,

and blows of punishment will fall on them like rain.

²⁴The wicked may run away from an iron weapon,

but a bronze arrow will stab them.

²⁵They will pull the arrows out of their backs

and pull the points out of their livers.

Terrors will come over them;

²⁶total darkness waits for their treasure.

A fire not fanned by people will destroy them

and burn up what is left of their tents.

²⁷The heavens will show their guilt,

and the earth will rise up against them.

²⁸A flood will carry their houses away,

swept away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is what God plans for evil people;

this is what he has decided they will receive.”

Job Answers Zophar

21Then Job answered:

²“Listen carefully to my words,

and let this be the way you comfort me.

³Be patient while I speak.

After I have finished, you may continue to make fun of me.

⁴“My complaint is not just against people;

I have reason to be impatient.

⁵Look at me and be shocked;

put your hand over your mouth in shock.

⁶When I think about this, I am terribly afraid

and my body shakes.

⁷Why do evil people live a long time?

They grow old and become more powerful.

⁸They see their children around them;

they watch them grow up.

⁹Their homes are safe and without fear;

God does not punish them.

¹⁰Their bulls never fail to mate;

their cows have healthy calves.

¹¹They send out their children like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

¹²They sing to the music of tambourines and harps,

and the sound of the flute makes them happy.

¹³Evil people enjoy successful lives

and then go peacefully to the grave.

¹⁴They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!

We don’t want to know your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?

What would we gain by praying to him?’

¹⁶The success of the wicked is not their own doing.

Their way of thinking is different from mine.

¹⁷Yet how often are the lamps of evil people turned off?

How often does trouble come to them?

How often do they suffer God’s angry punishment?

¹⁸How often are they like straw in the wind

or like chaff that is blown away by a storm?

¹⁹It is said, ‘God saves up a person’s punishment for his children.’

But God should punish the wicked themselves so they will know it.

²⁰Their eyes should see their own destruction,

and they should suffer the anger of the Almighty.

²¹They do not care about the families they leave behind

when their lives have come to an end.

²²“No one can teach knowledge to God;

he is the one who judges even the most important people.

²³One person dies while he still has all his strength,

feeling completely safe and comfortable.

²⁴His body was well fed,

and his bones were strong and healthy.

²⁵But another person dies with an unhappy heart,

never enjoying any happiness.

²⁶They are buried next to each other,

and worms cover them both.

²⁷“I know very well your thoughts

and your plans to wrong me.

²⁸You ask about me, ‘Where is this great man’s house?

Where are the tents where the wicked live?’

²⁹Have you never asked those who travel?

Have you never listened to their stories?

³⁰On the day of God’s anger and punishment,

it is the wicked who are spared.

³¹Who will accuse them to their faces?

Who will pay them back for the evil they have done?

³²They are carried to their graves,

and someone keeps watch over their tombs.

³³The dirt in the valley seems sweet to them.

Everybody follows after them,

and many people go before them.

³⁴“So how can you comfort me with this nonsense?

Your answers are only lies!”