Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for [this] I make haste.

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

3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

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

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

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

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

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

6 Though his excellence shall mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds;

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

7 [Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they who have seen him shall 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 He shall fly away as a dream, and will not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as 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 The eye also [which] saw him shall [see him] no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

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

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

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

11 His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which shall 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 Though wickedness may be sweet in his mouth, [though] he may hide it under his tongue;

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

13 [Though] he may spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 He shall not see the river, the floods, the brooks of honey and buttermilk.

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

18 That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow [it]: according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be], and he shall not rejoice [in 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 hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor; [because] he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

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

20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

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

21 There shall none of his food be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

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

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

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

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

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

25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yes, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him.

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 All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

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 heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

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

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

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