Job-20
v1
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
v2
“Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.
v3
I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
v4
Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth,
v5
that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
v6
Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
v7
he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?‘
v8
He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
v9
The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.
v10
His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
v11
His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
v12
“Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,
v13
though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth,
v14
yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.
v15
He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
v16
He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him.
v17
He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
v18
He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.
v19
For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.
v20
“Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
v21
There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
v22
In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
v23
To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body.
v24
He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through.
v25
It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him.
v26
Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.
v27
The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
v28
The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
v29
This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”