Job 20

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

1Then ^aZophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 “Therefore my ^bthoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
3I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
4Do you not know this from of old,
^csince man was placed on earth,
5 ^dthat the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 ^eThough his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
7he will perish forever like his own ^fdung;
those who have seen him will say, ^g‘Where is he?’
8He will fly away like ^ha dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 ⁱThe eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
10His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will ^jgive back his wealth.
11His bones are full of his ^kyouthful vigor,
but it will lie ^ldown with him in the dust.
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it ^munder his tongue,
13though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
14yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of ⁿcobras within him.
15He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
16He will suck the poison of cobras;
^othe tongue of a viper will kill him.
17He will not look upon ^pthe rivers,
the streams flowing with ^qhoney and ^rcurds.
18He will ^sgive back the fruit of his toil
and will not ^tswallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
19For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.
20 “Because he ^uknew no ^vcontentment in his belly,
^whe will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
21There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
23To fill his belly to the full,
God ▼

▼Hebrew he

will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him ^yinto his body.
24 ^zHe will flee from an iron weapon;
^aaa bronze arrow will strike ^abhim through.
25It ^acis drawn forth and comes out of his body;
^adthe glittering point comes out of his ^aegallbladder;
^afterrors come upon him.
26Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
^aga fire not fanned will devour him;
what is left in his tent will be consumed.
27 ^ahThe heavens will reveal his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
28The possessions of his house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God’s ▼

▼Hebrew his

wrath.
29 ^ajThis is the wicked man’s portion from God,
^akthe heritage decreed for him by God.”