Job 20
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
2 “So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
3 I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
4 Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,
This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
6 Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”
8 He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.
The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
10 His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.
His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
11 The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.
His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
12 Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,
For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
14 yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.
His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
15 He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
18 He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
20 Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.
And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.
21 Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.
Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
22 In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.
When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
23 When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.
May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.
24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
25 It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.
26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.
27 The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.
