Job 20

Zophar’s Sermon on the Wicked Man

20Then ^aZophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,

Because of the turmoil within me.

³I have heard the rebuke ¹that reproaches me,

And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴“Do you not know this of ^bold,

Since man was placed on earth,

^5cThat the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a ^dmoment?

^6eThough his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,

And his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;

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

⁸He will fly away ^flike a dream, and not be found;

Yes, he ^gwill be chased away like a vision of the night.

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

Nor will his place behold him anymore.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,

And his hands will restore his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of ^hhis youthful vigor,

ⁱBut it 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 spares it and does not forsake it,

But still keeps it in his ²mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;

It becomes cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches

And vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue will slay him.

¹⁷He will not see ^jthe streams,

The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸He will restore that for which he labored,

And will not swallow it down;

From the proceeds of business

He will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has ³oppressed and forsaken the poor,

He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰“Because ^khe knows no quietness in his ⁴heart,

He will not save anything he desires.

²¹Nothing is left for him to eat;

Therefore his well-being will not last.

²²In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;

Every hand of ⁵misery will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach,

God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,

And will rain it on him while he is eating.

^24lHe will flee from the iron weapon;

A bronze bow will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and comes out of the body;

Yes, ^mthe glittering point comes out of his ⁶gall.

ⁿTerrors come upon him;

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.

^oAn unfanned fire will consume him;

It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will depart,

And his goods will flow away in the day of His ^pwrath.

^29qThis is the portion from God for a wicked man,

The heritage appointed to him by God.”