Job 20

1 And Zophar the Naamathite answereth and saith: —

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:

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

In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.

3 The chastisement of my shame I hear, And the spirit of mine understanding Doth cause me to answer:

The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.

4 This hast thou known from antiquity? Since the placing of man on earth?

This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:

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

that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.

6 Though his excellency go up to the heavens, And his head against a cloud he strike —

If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

7 As his own dung for ever he doth perish, His beholders say: 'Where [is] he?'

in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”

8 As a dream he fleeth, and they find him not, And he is driven away as a vision of the night,

Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.

9 The eye hath not seen him, and addeth not. And not again doth his place behold him.

The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.

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

His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.

11 His bones have been full of his youth, And with him on the dust it lieth down.

His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.

12 Though he doth sweeten evil in his mouth, Doth hide it under his tongue,

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

13 Hath pity on it, and doth not forsake it, And keep it back in the midst of his palate,

He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.

14 His food in his bowels is turned, The bitterness of asps [is] in his heart.

His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.

15 Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out.

The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.

16 Gall of asps he sucketh, Slay him doth the tongue of a viper.

He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.

17 He looketh not on rivulets, Flowing of brooks of honey and butter.

(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)

18 He is giving back [what] he laboured for, And doth not consume [it]; As a bulwark [is] his exchange, and he exults not.

He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.

19 For he oppressed — he forsook the poor, A house he hath taken violently away, And he doth not build it.

For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.

20 For he hath not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he delivereth not himself.

And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.

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

Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.

22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he is straitened. Every perverse hand doth meet him.

When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.

23 It cometh to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sendeth forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Yea, He raineth on him in his eating.

May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.

24 He fleeth from an iron weapon, Pass through him doth a bow of brass.

He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,

25 One hath drawn, And it cometh out from the body, And a glittering weapon from his gall proceedeth. On him [are] terrors.

which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.

26 All darkness is hid for his treasures, Consume him doth a fire not blown, Broken is the remnant in his tent.

All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.

27 Reveal do the heavens his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him.

The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.

28 Remove doth the increase of his house, Poured forth in a day of His anger.

The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

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

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