Job 20

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

2 In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.

"Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

3 The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.

I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.

4 This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:

Do you not know this from old time, since humankind was placed on earth,

5 that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.

that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

7 in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”

yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'

8 Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.

He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.

The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him.

10 His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.

His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth.

11 His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.

His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

"Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,

13 He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.

though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;

14 His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.

yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.

15 The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.

He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.

16 He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.

He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.

17 (May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)

He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.

18 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.

That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

19 For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

20 And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.

"Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.

21 Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.

There was nothing left that he did not devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

22 When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.

In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.

23 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.

When he is about to fill his belly, he will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.

24 He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,

He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.

25 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.

He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.

26 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.

All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.

The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.

28 The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."