Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Then Zophar replied,

2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

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

3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

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

4 Know you not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

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

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for 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 excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

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

7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

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 fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased 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 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

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 seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

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 sin of his youth, which shall lie down 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 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

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

13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

And they did not want to stop doing those things,

14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within 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 has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

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 suck the poison of asps: the viper's 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 rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey 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 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

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 Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away an house which he built 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 not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save 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 food be left; therefore shall no man look 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 In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon 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 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

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 iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

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

25 It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yea, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are upon 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 darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

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 heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up 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 depart, and his goods 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 a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

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