Job 20:1 ←
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
Job 20:2 ←
“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
Job 20:3 ←
I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
Job 20:4 ←
Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
Job 20:5 ←
that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Job 20:6 ←
Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
Job 20:7 ←
yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
Job 20:8 ←
He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
Job 20:9 ←
The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
Job 20:10 ←
His children will seek the favor of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
Job 20:11 ←
His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 ←
“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
Job 20:13 ←
though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,
Job 20:14 ←
yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Job 20:15 ←
He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
Job 20:16 ←
He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
Job 20:17 ←
He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
Job 20:18 ←
He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
Job 20:19 ←
For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
Job 20:20 ←
“Because he knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
Job 20:21 ←
There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
Job 20:22 ←
In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
Job 20:23 ←
When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
Job 20:24 ←
He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
Job 20:25 ←
He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
Job 20:26 ←
All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
Job 20:27 ←
The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
Job 20:28 ←
The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
Job 20:29 ←
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
Public Domain