Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Na'amathite, and said,

Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

2 Even therefore do my inmost thoughts give me an answer, and for this reason do I feel a strong excitement within me.

Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

3 Reproof which casteth shame on me must I hear; yet out of my understanding will the spirit give me an answer.

The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

4 Dost thou know this? from the very beginning of things, from the very time when man was placed upon earth it was,

This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

5 That the triumphal shouting of the wicked is ever of but a recent date, and the joy of the hypocrite endureth only for a moment.

That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

6 Though his exaltation should mount up to the heavens, and his head should reach unto the clouds;

If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

7 Yet when he but turneth round will he vanish for ever; those who have seen him will say, Where is he?

In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?

8 Like a dream will he fly away, and men will find him no more; yea, he will be chased away like 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 If an eye have surveyed him, it will not do so again, and it will not behold him any more in his place.

The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

10 His children will suffer oppression from the indigent, and his hands will have to restore his [ill-gotten] wealth.

His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.

11 [Now] his bones are full of his youthful vigor; but it will [suddenly] lie down 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 If the evil be sweet in his mouth, he will conceal it under his tongue;

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

13 He will cherish it, and not forsake it; and hold it back within his palate;

He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

14 His food is thus changed within his bowels, and becometh the venom of asps within him.

His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.

15 The wealth which he hath swallowed, will he have to vomit up again; God will drive it out of his belly.

The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

16 The poison of asps will he have to suck; the viper's tongue will slay him.

He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

17 He shall not look with pleasure on streams, on flowing brooks of honey and cream.

(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

18 He restoreth what he hath labored for, and will not swallow it down; however much he may have obtained by toil, he will not have any joy of it.

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 Because he oppressed and forsook the indigent; because he took violently away a house, shall he not rebuild it;

Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

20 Because he knew not quietness in his bosom, shall he not escape through what is the most precious to him.

And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

21 Nothing was spared from his craving to eat: therefore shall his wealth not prosper.

There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

22 In the fulness of his abundance will distress assail him: every hand of [those he] troubled will come against him.

When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

23 In order to fill his belly, [God] will send out against him the fury of his wrath, and will rain it upon him for his eating.

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 If he flee from the iron weapon, the brazen bow will strike him through.

He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

25 He draweth it, and it cometh out of the body; yea, out of his gall the glittering [arrow] cometh forth: over him come the terrors [of death].

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 Entire darkness is laid by for his treasures: a fire not urged by blowing will consume him; it will destroy any one that is left in his tent.

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 heavens will lay open his iniquity; and the earth will raise herself up against him.

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

28 The product of his house will be banished, flowing away on 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 a wicked man from God, and his decreed heritage from God.

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