Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and saide,

Then Zophar replied,

2 Doubtlesse my thoughts cause me to answere, and therefore I make haste.

“I am very perturbed about what you have said, so I want to reply very quickly.

3 I haue heard the correction of my reproch: therefore the spirite of mine vnderstanding causeth me to answere.

By saying these things you have insulted me, but I know how (OR, because I understand very much) I can reply to you.

4 Knowest thou not this of olde? and since God placed man vpon the earth,

“Do you not know that from long ago, ever since people were first put on the earth,

5 That the reioycing of the wicked is short, and that the ioy of hypocrites is but a moment?

wicked people [like you] do not continue to rejoice for a long time, ungodly people are happy only for a (moment/very short time) [HYP]?

6 Though his excellencie mount vp to the heauen, and his head reache vnto the cloudes,

[Even] though their reputation/pride reaches up to the sky and their fame goes up as high as the clouds,

7 Yet shall hee perish for euer, like his dung, and they which haue seene him, shall say, Where is hee?

they will disappear forever, like their own dung, and those who knew them will ask, ‘(Where did they go/What happened to them)?’

8 He shall flee away as a dreame, and they shall not finde him, and shall passe away as a vision of the night,

They will be forgotten like [SIM] a dream is, and they will exist no more. They will vanish, like visions [that people see] during the night.

9 So that the eye which had seene him, shall do so no more, and his place shall see him no more.

Those who saw those people previously will never see them again; even their families [MTY] will not see them any more.

10 His children shall flatter the poore, and his hands shall restore his substance.

Their children will be forced to return the valuable things that those children stole from poor people [DOU].

11 His bones are full of the sinne of his youth, and it shall lie downe with him in the dust.

Previously their bodies were young and strong, but they will die and [their bodies will] be buried in the ground.

12 When wickednesse was sweete in his mouth, and he hid it vnder his tongue,

“Doing wicked things was like having sweet food in their mouths, and they wanted to continue to taste it.

13 And fauoured it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,

And they did not want to stop doing those things,

14 Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Aspes was in the middes of him.

[but some day] the evil things that they enjoyed doing will become like food [that they swallow] [and which becomes] as bitter as snake venom.

15 He hath deuoured substance, and hee shall vomit it: for God shall drawe it out of his bellie.

Wicked people will not continue to keep the money they have accumulated, like people do not keep the food that they vomit. God takes their wealth from them.

16 He shall sucke the gall of Aspes, and the vipers tongue shall slay him.

What wicked people do is [like] [MET] swallowing snake venom; it will kill them like [MET] the bite of a poisonous snake kills people.

17 He shall not see the riuers, nor the floods and streames of honie and butter.

They will not remain alive to see abundant blessings [IDM] [from God], milk and olive oil and honey, that are [so abundant they are] like [MET] a stream that flows by.

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.

They will be forced to give back the things that they stole from the poor; they will not be able to continue to enjoy those things. They will not remain happy because of what they got from their businesses,

19 For he hath vndone many: he hath forsaken the poore, and hath spoyled houses which he builded not.

because they oppressed poor people and refused to help them, and they took other people’s houses [by cheating them].

20 Surely he shall feele no quietnes in his bodie, neither shall he reserue of that which he desired.

“They were always greedy and never satisfied. They just keep dreaming about owning more and more things.

21 There shall none of his meate bee left: therefore none shall hope for his goods.

When they finished eating their food, there was never anything left over [because they had greedily eaten it all]; but now their prosperity will end.

22 When he shalbe filled with his abundance, he shalbe in paine, and the hand of all the wicked shall assaile him.

When they are extremely prosperous/wealthy, they will suddenly experience a lot of trouble. (Misery will strike them and crush them [PRS]/They will suffer very greatly).

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.

When the wicked people are filling their stomachs, God will show that he is very angry with them and punish them; the punishment [that he gives them] will be like [MET] rain falling on them.

24 He shall flee from the yron weapons, and the bow of steele shall strike him through.

They will try to escape from [being killed by] iron weapons, but arrows with bronze points will pierce them.

25 The arrowe is drawen out, and commeth forth of the body, and shineth of his gall, so feare commeth vpon him.

The arrows will [go completely through their bodies and] stick out of their backs; the shiny points of the arrows will have blood dripping from them, and those wicked people will be terrified.

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.

Their valuable possessions will all be destroyed; a fire that is not lit by humans, [but by God, ] will burn them up and also destroy the things that are left in their tents.

27 The heauen shall declare his wickednes, and the earth shall rise vp against him.

The [angels in] heaven [MTY] will reveal the sins that those wicked people have committed, and [people on] earth will stand up and testify against them.

28 The increase of his house shall go away: it shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

When God punishes [MTY] [people], all the possessions in the wicked people’s houses will be carried away by a flood.

29 This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage that he shall haue of God for his wordes.

That is what will happen to wicked people [like you]; that is what God has decided will happen to them.”