Job 20

Zophar

Then Zophar the Naamathite^a replied:

“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed.^b

I hear a rebuke^c that dishonors me,

and my understanding inspires me to reply.

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

ever since people were placed on the earth,

that the mirth of the wicked^e is brief,

the joy of the godless^f lasts but a moment.^g

Though his pride^h reaches to the heavensⁱ

and his head touches the clouds,^j

he will perish forever,^k like his own dung;

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

Like a dream^m he flies away,ⁿ no more to be found,

banished^o like a vision of the night.^p

The eye that saw him will not see him again;

his place will look on him no more.^q

His children^r must make amends to the poor;

his own hands must give back his wealth.^s

The youthful vigor^t that fills his bones^u

will lie with him in the dust.^v

“Though evil^w is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue,^x

though he cannot bear to let it go

and lets it linger in his mouth,^y

yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;^z

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

He will spit out the riches^b he swallowed;

God will make his stomach vomit^c them up.

He will suck the poison^d of serpents;

the fangs of an adder will kill him.^e

He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers^f flowing with honey^g and cream.^h

What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;ⁱ

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

For he has oppressed the poor^k and left them destitute;^l

he has seized houses^m he did not build.

“Surely he will have no respite from his craving;ⁿ

he cannot save himself by his treasure.^o

Nothing is left for him to devour;

his prosperity will not endure.^p

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

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

When he has filled his belly,^s

God will vent his burning anger^t against him

and rain down his blows on him.^u

Though he flees^v from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.^w

He pulls it out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver.

Terrors^x will come over him;^y

total darkness^z lies in wait for his treasures.

A fire^a unfanned will consume him^b

and devour what is left in his tent.^c

The heavens will expose his guilt;

the earth will rise up against him.^d

A flood will carry off his house,^e

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

Such is the fate God allots the wicked,

the heritage appointed for them by God.”^g