Job 20
1 Then Zophar replied,
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 “I am very perturbed about what you have said, so I want to reply very quickly.
“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
3 By saying these things you have insulted me, but I know how (OR, because I understand very much) I can reply to you.
I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
4 “Do you not know that from long ago, ever since people were first put on the earth,
Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,
5 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]?
the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
6 [Even] though their reputation/pride reaches up to the sky and their fame goes up as high as the clouds,
Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 they will disappear forever, like their own dung, and those who knew them will ask, ‘(Where did they go/What happened to them)?’
he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
8 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.
He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
9 Those who saw those people previously will never see them again; even their families [MTY] will not see them any more.
The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.
10 Their children will be forced to return the valuable things that those children stole from poor people [DOU].
His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.
11 Previously their bodies were young and strong, but they will die and [their bodies will] be buried in the ground.
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.
12 “Doing wicked things was like having sweet food in their mouths, and they wanted to continue to taste it.
Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,
13 And they did not want to stop doing those things,
though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
14 [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.
yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.
15 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.
He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
16 What wicked people do is [like] [MET] swallowing snake venom; it will kill them like [MET] the bite of a poisonous snake kills people.
He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
17 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.
He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 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,
He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
19 because they oppressed poor people and refused to help them, and they took other people’s houses [by cheating them].
For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
20 “They were always greedy and never satisfied. They just keep dreaming about owning more and more things.
Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.
21 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.
Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.
22 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).
In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.
23 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.
When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.
24 They will try to escape from [being killed by] iron weapons, but arrows with bronze points will pierce them.
Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
25 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.
It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
26 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.
Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
27 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.
The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 When God punishes [MTY] [people], all the possessions in the wicked people’s houses will be carried away by a flood.
The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
29 That is what will happen to wicked people [like you]; that is what God has decided will happen to them.”
This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
