איוב 20
| ויען צפר הנעמתי ויאמר | 1 |
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
| לכן שעפי ישיבוני ובעבור חושי בי | 2 |
In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
| מוסר כלמתי אשמע ורוח מבינתי יענני | 3 |
The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
| הזאת ידעת מני-עד מני שים אדם עלי-ארץ | 4 |
This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
| כי רננת רשעים מקרוב ושמחת חנף עדי-רגע | 5 |
that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
| אם-יעלה לשמים שיאו וראשו לעב יגיע | 6 |
If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
| כגללו לנצח יאבד ראיו יאמרו איו | 7 |
in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”
| כחלום יעוף ולא ימצאהו וידד כחזיון לילה | 8 |
Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
| עין שזפתו ולא תוסיף ולא-עוד תשורנו מקומו | 9 |
The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
| בניו ירצו דלים וידיו תשבנה אונו | 10 |
His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
| עצמותיו מלאו עלומו ועמו על-עפר תשכב | 11 |
His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
| אם-תמתיק בפיו רעה-- יכחידנה תחת לשנו | 12 |
For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
| יחמל עליה ולא יעזבנה וימנענה בתוך חכו | 13 |
He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
| לחמו במעיו נהפך מרורת פתנים בקרבו | 14 |
His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
| חיל בלע ויקאנו מבטנו ירשנו אל | 15 |
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
| ראש-פתנים יינק תהרגהו לשון אפעה | 16 |
He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
| אל-ירא בפלגות-- נהרי נחלי דבש וחמאה | 17 |
(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
| משיב יגע ולא יבלע כחיל תמורתו ולא יעלס | 18 |
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.
| כי-רצץ עזב דלים בית גזל ולא יבנהו | 19 |
For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
| כי לא-ידע שלו בבטנו בחמודו לא ימלט | 20 |
And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.
| אין-שריד לאכלו על-כן לא-יחיל טובו | 21 |
Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
| במלאות שפקו יצר לו כל-יד עמל תבאנו | 22 |
When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
| יהי למלא בטנו--ישלח-בו חרון אפו וימטר עלימו בלחומו | 23 |
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.
| יברח מנשק ברזל תחלפהו קשת נחושה | 24 |
He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
| שלף ויצא מגוה וברק ממררתו יהלך עליו אמים | 25 |
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.
| כל-חשך טמון לצפוניו תאכלהו אש לא-נפח ירע שריד באהלו | 26 |
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.
| יגלו שמים עונו וארץ מתקוממה לו | 27 |
The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
| יגל יבול ביתו נגרות ביום אפו | 28 |
The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
| זה חלק-אדם רשע--מאלהים ונחלת אמרו מאל | 29 |
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.
