Job 20

Zophar

20Then Zophar the Naamathite^p replied:

²“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed.^q

³I hear a rebuke^r that dishonors me,

and my understanding inspires me to reply.

⁴“Surely you know how it has been from of old,^s

ever since mankind^a was placed on the earth,

⁵that the mirth of the wicked^t is brief,

the joy of the godless^u lasts but a moment.^v

⁶Though the pride^w of the godless person reaches to the heavens^x

and his head touches the clouds,^y

⁷he will perish forever,^z like his own dung;

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

⁸Like a dream^b he flies away,^c no more to be found,

banished^d like a vision of the night.^e

⁹The eye that saw him will not see him again;

his place will look on him no more.^f

¹⁰His children^g must make amends to the poor;

his own hands must give back his wealth.^h

¹¹The youthful vigorⁱ that fills his bones^j

will lie with him in the dust.^k

¹²“Though evil^l is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue,^m

¹³though he cannot bear to let it go

and lets it linger in his mouth,ⁿ

¹⁴yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;^o

it will become the venom of serpents^p within him.

¹⁵He will spit out the riches^q he swallowed;

God will make his stomach vomit^r them up.

¹⁶He will suck the poison^s of serpents;

the fangs of an adder will kill him.^t

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers^u flowing with honey^v and cream.^w

¹⁸What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;^x

he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.^y

¹⁹For he has oppressed the poor^z and left them destitute;^a

he has seized houses^b he did not build.

²⁰“Surely he will have no respite from his craving;^c

he cannot save himself by his treasure.^d

²¹Nothing is left for him to devour;

his prosperity will not endure.^e

²²In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;^f

the full force of misery will come upon him.^g

²³When he has filled his belly,^h

God will vent his burning angerⁱ against him

and rain down his blows on him.^j

²⁴Though he flees^k from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.^l

²⁵He pulls it out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver.

Terrors^m will come over him;ⁿ

²⁶total darkness^o lies in wait for his treasures.

A fire^p unfanned will consume him^q

and devour what is left in his tent.^r

²⁷The heavens will expose his guilt;

the earth will rise up against him.^s

²⁸A flood will carry off his house,^t

rushing waters^b on the day of God’s wrath.^u

²⁹Such is the fate God allots the wicked,

the heritage appointed for them by God.”^v