Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Na'amathite, and said,
And Zophar the Naamathite answers and says:
2 Even therefore do my inmost thoughts give me an answer, and for this reason do I feel a strong excitement within me.
“Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, And because of my sensations in me.
3 Reproof which casteth shame on me must I hear; yet out of my understanding will the spirit give me an answer.
I hear the discipline of my shame, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer:
4 Dost thou know this? from the very beginning of things, from the very time when man was placed upon earth it was,
Have you known this from antiquity? Since the placing of man on 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 singing of the wicked [is] short, And the joy of the profane for a moment,
6 Though his exaltation should mount up to the heavens, and his head should reach unto the clouds;
Though his excellence goes up to the heavens, He strikes his head against a cloud—
7 Yet when he but turneth round will he vanish for ever; those who have seen him will say, Where is he?
He perishes as his own dung forever, His beholders 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.
He flees as a dream, and they do not find him, And he is driven away 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 eye has not seen him, and does not add. And his place does not behold him again.
10 His children will suffer oppression from the indigent, and his hands will have to restore his [ill-gotten] wealth.
His sons oppress the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.
11 [Now] his bones are full of his youthful vigor; but it will [suddenly] lie down with him in the dust.
His bones have been full of his youth, and it lies down with him on the dust.
12 If the evil be sweet in his mouth, he will conceal it under his tongue;
Though he sweetens evil in his mouth, hides it under his tongue,
13 He will cherish it, and not forsake it; and hold it back within his palate;
has pity on it, and does not forsake it, and keeps it back in the midst of his palate,
14 His food is thus changed within his bowels, and becometh the venom of asps within him.
his food is turned in his bowels, the bitterness of cobras [is] in his heart.
15 The wealth which he hath swallowed, will he have to vomit up again; God will drive it out of his belly.
He has swallowed wealth, and vomits it. God drives it out from his belly.
16 The poison of asps will he have to suck; the viper's tongue will slay him.
He sucks [the] gall of cobras, the tongue of a viper slays him.
17 He shall not look with pleasure on streams, on flowing brooks of honey and cream.
He does not look on streams, Flowing of brooks of honey and 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 is giving back [what] he labored for, and does not consume [it]; As a bulwark [is] his exchange, and he does not exult.
19 Because he oppressed and forsook the indigent; because he took violently away a house, shall he not rebuild it;
For he oppressed—he forsook the poor, He has taken a house away violently, And he does not build it.
20 Because he knew not quietness in his bosom, shall he not escape through what is the most precious to him.
For he has not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he does not deliver himself.
21 Nothing was spared from his craving to eat: therefore shall his wealth not prosper.
There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good does not stay.
22 In the fulness of his abundance will distress assail him: every hand of [those he] troubled will come against him.
In the fullness of his sufficiency he is constricted. Every perverse hand meets 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.
It comes to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sends forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Indeed, He rains on him in his eating.
24 If he flee from the iron weapon, the brazen bow will strike him through.
He flees from an iron weapon, A bow of bronze passes through him.
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].
One has drawn, And it comes out from the body, And a glittering weapon proceeds from his gall. Terrors [are] on 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 for his treasures, A fire not blown consumes him, The remnant is broken in his tent.
27 The heavens will lay open his iniquity; and the earth will raise herself up against him.
The heavens reveal his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him.
28 The product of his house will be banished, flowing away on the day of his wrath.
The increase of his house is removed, Poured forth in a day of His anger.
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 an inheritance appointed him by God.”
