Job 20

The Second Speech of Zophar

20Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,

²“My troubled thoughts force me to answer you.

That’s because I’m very upset.

³What you have just said makes fun of me.

So I really have to reply to you.

⁴“I’m sure you must know how things have always been.

They’ve been that way

ever since man was placed on this earth.

⁵Those who are evil are happy for only a short time.

The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.

⁶Their pride might reach all the way up to the heavens.

Their heads might touch the clouds.

⁷But they will disappear forever,

like the waste from their own bodies.

Anyone who has seen them will say,

‘Where did they go?’

⁸Like a dream they will fly away.

They will never be seen again.

They will be driven away like visions in the night.

⁹The eyes that saw them won’t see them anymore.

Even their own families won’t remember them.

¹⁰Their children must pay back what they took from poor people.

Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.

¹¹They might feel young and very strong.

But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.

¹²“Anything that is evil tastes sweet to them.

They keep it under their tongues for a while.

¹³They can’t stand to let it go.

So they hold it in their mouths.

¹⁴But their food will turn sour in their stomachs.

It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.

¹⁵They will spit out the rich food they swallowed.

God will make their stomachs throw it up.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of a serpent.

The fangs of an adder will kill them.

¹⁷They won’t enjoy streams that flow with honey.

They won’t enjoy rivers that flow with cream.

¹⁸What they worked for they must give back

before they can eat it.

They won’t enjoy what they have earned.

¹⁹They’ve crushed poor people and left them with nothing.

They’ve taken over houses they didn’t even build.

²⁰“No matter how much they have,

they always long for more.

But their treasure can’t save them.

²¹There isn’t anything left for them to eat up.

Their success won’t last.

²²While they are enjoying the good life,

trouble will catch up with them.

Terrible suffering will come on them.

²³When they’ve filled their stomachs,

God will pour out his burning anger on them.

He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.

²⁴They might run away from iron weapons.

But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.

²⁵They will pull the arrows out of their backs.

They will remove the shining tips from their livers.

They will be filled with terror.

²⁶Total darkness hides and waits for their treasures.

God will send a fire that will destroy them.

It will burn up everything that’s left in their tents.

²⁷Heaven will show their guilt to everyone.

The earth will be a witness against them.

²⁸A flood will carry their houses away.

Rushing water will wash them away

on the day when God judges.

²⁹Now you know what God will do to sinful people.

Now you know what he has planned for them.”