Job 20

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

² "Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.

³ I hear censure which insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

⁴ Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed upon earth,

⁵ that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

⁶ Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

⁷ he will perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

⁸ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹ The eye which saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.

¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.

¹¹ His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹² "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,

¹³ though he is loath to let it go, and holds it in his mouth,

¹⁴ yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵ He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶ He will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill him.

¹⁷ He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ For he has crushed and abandoned the poor, he has seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰ "Because his greed knew no rest, he will not save anything in which he delights.

²¹ There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure.

²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits; all the force of misery will come upon him.

²³ To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him, and rain it upon him as his food.

²⁴ He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through.

²⁵ It is drawn forth and comes out of his body, the glittering point comes out of his gall; terrors come upon him.

²⁶ Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown upon will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.

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

²⁸ The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.

²⁹ This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God."