Job 20–21

Chapter 20

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Therefore my thoughts answer me,

because of my haste within me.

³I hear censure which insults me,

and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

⁴Do you not know this from of old,

since man was placed upon earth,

⁵that the exulting of the wicked is short,

and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens,

and his head reach to the clouds,

⁷he will perish for ever like his own dung;

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

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

he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

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

nor will his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,

and his hands will give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of youthful vigor,

but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,

though he hides it under his tongue,

¹³though he is loath to let it go,

and holds it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet his food is turned in his stomach;

it is the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of asps;

the tongue of a viper will kill him.

¹⁷He will not look upon the rivers,

the streams flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He will give back the fruit of his toil,

and will not swallow it down;

from the profit of his trading

he will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has crushed and abandoned the poor,

he has seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰“Because his greed knew no rest,

he will not save anything in which he delights.

²¹There was nothing left after he had eaten;

therefore his prosperity will not endure.

²²In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits;

all the force of misery will come upon him.

²³To fill his belly to the full

God^z will send his fierce anger into him,

and rain it upon him as his food.^a

²⁴He will flee from an iron weapon;

a bronze arrow will strike him through.

²⁵It is drawn forth and comes out of his body,

the glittering point comes out of his gall;

terrors come upon him.

²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;

a fire not blown upon will devour him;

what is left in his tent will be consumed.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The possessions of his house will be carried away,

dragged off in the day of God’s^b wrath.

²⁹This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

the heritage decreed for him by God.”

Chapter 21

¹Then Job answered:

²“Listen carefully to my words,

and let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me, and be appalled,

and lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶When I think of it I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their children are established in their presence,

and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

and no rod of God is upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves, and does not cast her calf.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

and their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,

and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity,

and in peace they go down to Sheol.

¹⁴They say to God, ‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God^c distributes pains in his anger?

¹⁸That they are like straw before the wind,

and like chaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their sons.’

Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it.

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care for their houses after them,

when the number of their months is cut off?

²²Will any teach God knowledge,

seeing that he judges those that are on high?

²³One dies in full prosperity,

being wholly at ease and secure,

²⁴his body^d full of fat

and the marrow of his bones moist.

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul,

never having tasted of good.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

and the worms cover them.

²⁷“Behold, I know your thoughts,

and your schemes to wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads,

and do you not accept their testimony

³⁰that the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity,

that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares his way to his face,

and who requites him for what he has done?

³²When he is borne to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to him;

all men follow after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?

There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”