Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and saide,
Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:
2 Doubtlesse my thoughts cause me to answere, and therefore I make haste.
Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.
3 I haue heard the correction of my reproch: therefore the spirite of mine vnderstanding causeth me to answere.
The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
4 Knowest thou not this of olde? and since God placed man vpon the earth,
This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,
5 That the reioycing of the wicked is short, and that the ioy of hypocrites is but a moment?
That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.
6 Though his excellencie mount vp to the heauen, and his head reache vnto the cloudes,
If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:
7 Yet shall hee perish for euer, like his dung, and they which haue seene him, shall say, Where is hee?
In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?
8 He shall flee away as a dreame, and they shall not finde him, and shall passe away as a vision of the night,
As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:
9 So that the eye which had seene him, shall do so no more, and his place shall see him no more.
The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children shall flatter the poore, and his hands shall restore his substance.
His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.
11 His bones are full of the sinne of his youth, and it shall lie downe with him in the dust.
His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.
12 When wickednesse was sweete in his mouth, and he hid it vnder his tongue,
For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 And fauoured it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,
He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.
14 Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Aspes was in the middes of him.
His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath deuoured substance, and hee shall vomit it: for God shall drawe it out of his bellie.
The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.
16 He shall sucke the gall of Aspes, and the vipers tongue shall slay him.
He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.
17 He shall not see the riuers, nor the floods and streames of honie and butter.
(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)
18 He shall restore the labour, and shall deuoure no more: euen according to the substance shalbe his exchange, and he shall enioy it no more.
He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.
19 For he hath vndone many: he hath forsaken the poore, and hath spoyled houses which he builded not.
Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.
20 Surely he shall feele no quietnes in his bodie, neither shall he reserue of that which he desired.
And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.
21 There shall none of his meate bee left: therefore none shall hope for his goods.
There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:
22 When he shalbe filled with his abundance, he shalbe in paine, and the hand of all the wicked shall assaile him.
When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.
23 He shall be about to fill his belly, but God shall sende vpon him his fierce wrath, and shall cause to rayne vpon him, euen vpon his meate.
May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.
24 He shall flee from the yron weapons, and the bow of steele shall strike him through.
He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.
25 The arrowe is drawen out, and commeth forth of the body, and shineth of his gall, so feare commeth vpon him.
The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.
26 All darkenes shalbe hid in his secret places: the fire that is not blowen, shall deuoure him, and that which remaineth in his tabernacle, shalbe destroyed.
All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.
27 The heauen shall declare his wickednes, and the earth shall rise vp against him.
The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall go away: it shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage that he shall haue of God for his wordes.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.
