Job 20
1 Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit:
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
2 Idcirco cogitationes meae variae succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur.
In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
3 Doctrinam, qua me arguis, audiam, et spiritus intelligentiae meae respondebit mihi.
The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
4 Hoc scio a principio, ex quo positus est homo super terram,
This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
5 Quod laus impiorum brevis sit, et gaudium hypocritae ad instar puncti.
that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
6 Si ascenderit usque ad caelum superbia eius, et caput eius nubes tetigerit:
If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 Quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur: et qui eum viderant, dicent: Ubi est?
in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”
8 Velut somnium avolans non invenietur, transiet sicut visio nocturna.
Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
9 Oculus, qui eum viderat, non videbit, neque ultra intuebitur eum locus suus.
The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
10 Filii eius atterentur egestate, et manus illius reddent ei dolorem suum.
His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
11 Ossa eius implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae eius, et cum eo in pulvere dormient.
His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
12 Cum enim dulce fuerit in ore eius malum, abscondet illud sub lingua sua.
For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 Parcet illi, et non derelinquet illud, et celabit in gutture suo.
He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
14 Panis eius in utero illius vertetur in fel aspidum intrinsecus.
His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
15 Divitias, quas devoravit, evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus.
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
16 Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperae.
He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
17 (Non videat rivulos fluminis, torrentes mellis, et butyri.)
(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
18 Luet quae fecit omnia, nec tamen consumetur: iuxta multitudinem adinventionum suarum, sic et sustinebit.
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 Quoniam confringens nudavit pauperes: domum rapuit, et non aedificavit eam.
For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
20 Nec est satiatus venter eius: et cum habuerit quae concupierat, possidere non poterit.
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 Non remansit de cibo eius, et propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius.
Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
22 Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur, aestuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum.
When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
23 Utinam impleatur venter eius, ut emittat in eum iram furoris sui, et pluat super illum bellum suum.
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 Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum aereum.
He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
25 Gladius eductus, et egrediens de vagina sua, et fulgurans in amaritudine sua: vadent, et venient super eum horribiles.
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 Omnes tenebrae absconditae sunt in occultis eius: devorabit eum ignis, qui non succenditur, affligetur relictus in tabernaculo suo.
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 Revelabunt caeli iniquitatem eius, et terra consurget adversus eum.
The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 Apertum erit germen domus illius, detrahetur in die furoris Dei.
The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29 Haec est pars hominis impii a Deo, et hereditas verborum eius a Domino.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.
