Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
2 Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of mine agitation that is in me.
In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
3 I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, but out of my understanding my spirit answereth me.
The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
4 Knowest thou not this of old time, since man was placed upon earth,
This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; they that have seen him shall say: '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 shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
10 His children shall appease the poor, and his hands shall restore his wealth.
His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
11 His bones are full of his youth, but it shall 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 wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;
He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God shall cast them out of his belly.
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him.
He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
17 He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and curd.
(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
18 That which he laboured for shall he give back, and shall not swallow it down; according to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
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 hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
20 Because he knew no quietness within him, in his greed he suffered nought to escape,
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 There was nothing left that he devoured not — therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; the hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
23 It shall be for the filling of his belly; He shall cast the fierceness of His wrath upon him, and shall cause it to rain upon him into his flesh.
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 If he flee from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
25 He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; terrors are upon 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 All darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown by man shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that 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 shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart, his goods shall flow away in the day of his 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 portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.
