Job 20

¹Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

²Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

³The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

⁴This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

⁵That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

⁶If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

⁷In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?

⁸As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

⁹The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.

¹¹His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

¹²For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

¹³He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

¹⁴His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,

¹⁵The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper's tongue shall kill him.

¹⁷Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.

¹⁸He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

¹⁹Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

²⁰And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

²¹There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

²²When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

²³May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

²⁴He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

²⁵The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.

²⁶All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God's wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Job 20

¹Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

²Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

³I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

⁴Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

⁶Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

⁷Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

⁸He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

⁹The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

¹¹His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹²Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

¹³Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

¹⁴Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

¹⁸That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

¹⁹Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

²⁰Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

²¹There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

²²In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

²³When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

²⁴He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

²⁶All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

²⁷The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.