Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

And Zophar the Naamathite answers and says:

2 Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

“Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, And because of my sensations in me.

3 I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, and the spirit of my understanding answereth me.

I hear the discipline of my shame, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer:

4 Knowest thou [not] this of old time, since man was placed upon earth,

Have you known this from antiquity? Since the placing of man on earth?

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

That the singing of the wicked [is] short, And the joy of the profane for a moment,

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

Though his excellence goes up to the heavens, He strikes his head against a cloud—

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

He perishes as his own dung forever, His beholders 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.

He flees as a dream, and they do not find him, And he is driven away as a vision of the night,

9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

The eye has not seen him, and does not add. And his place does not behold him again.

10 His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands shall give back his wealth.

His sons oppress the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youth, but it shall 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 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

Though he sweetens evil in his mouth, hides it under his tongue,

13 Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;

has pity on it, and does not forsake it, and keeps it back in the midst of his palate,

14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

his food is turned in his bowels, the bitterness of cobras [is] in his heart.

15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

He has swallowed wealth, and vomits it. God drives it out from his belly.

16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

He sucks [the] gall of cobras, the tongue of a viper slays him.

17 He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.

He does not look on streams, Flowing of brooks of honey and butter.

18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; according to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.

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 For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away an house, and he shall not build it up.

For he oppressed—he forsook the poor, He has taken a house away violently, And he does not build it.

20 Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.

For he has not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he does not deliver himself.

21 There was nothing left that he devoured not; therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good does not stay.

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.

In the fullness of his sufficiency he is constricted. Every perverse hand meets him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, [God] shall cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is 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 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through.

He flees from an iron weapon, A bow of bronze passes through him.

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.

One has drawn, And it comes out from the body, And a glittering weapon proceeds from his gall. Terrors [are] on him.

26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown [by man] shall devour him; it shall consume that which 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 shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

The heavens reveal his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him.

28 The increase of his house shall depart, [his goods] shall flow away in 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 the heritage appointed unto him by God.

This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.”