Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Na'amathite, and said,
Then Zophar replied,
2 Even therefore do my inmost thoughts give me an answer, and for this reason do I feel a strong excitement within me.
“I am very perturbed about what you have said, so I want to reply very quickly.
3 Reproof which casteth shame on me must I hear; yet out of my understanding will the spirit give me an 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 Dost thou know this? from the very beginning of things, from the very time when man was placed upon earth it was,
“Do you not know that from long ago, ever since people were first put on 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.
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 exaltation should mount up to the heavens, and his head should 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 when he but turneth round will he vanish for ever; those who have seen him will 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 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.
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 If an eye have surveyed him, it will not do so again, and it will not behold him any more in his place.
Those who saw those people previously will never see them again; even their families [MTY] will not see them any more.
10 His children will suffer oppression from the indigent, and his hands will have to restore his [ill-gotten] wealth.
Their children will be forced to return the valuable things that those children stole from poor people [DOU].
11 [Now] his bones are full of his youthful vigor; but it will [suddenly] 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 If the evil be sweet in his mouth, he will conceal it under his tongue;
“Doing wicked things was like having sweet food in their mouths, and they wanted to continue to taste it.
13 He will cherish it, and not forsake it; and hold it back within his palate;
And they did not want to stop doing those things,
14 His food is thus changed within his bowels, and becometh the venom 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 The wealth which he hath swallowed, will he have to vomit up again; God will drive it 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 The poison of asps will he have to suck; the viper's tongue will 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 look with pleasure on streams, on flowing brooks of honey and cream.
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 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.
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 oppressed and forsook the indigent; because he took violently away a house, shall he not rebuild it;
because they oppressed poor people and refused to help them, and they took other people’s houses [by cheating them].
20 Because he knew not quietness in his bosom, shall he not escape through what is the most precious to him.
“They were always greedy and never satisfied. They just keep dreaming about owning more and more things.
21 Nothing was spared from his craving to eat: therefore shall his wealth not prosper.
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 fulness of his abundance will distress assail him: every hand of [those he] troubled will come against 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 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.
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 If he flee from the iron weapon, the brazen bow will strike him through.
They will try to escape from [being killed by] iron weapons, but arrows with bronze points will pierce them.
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 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 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.
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 heavens will lay open his iniquity; and the earth will raise herself 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 product of his house will be banished, flowing away on 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 his decreed heritage from God.
That is what will happen to wicked people [like you]; that is what God has decided will happen to them.”
