Job 20

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite spoke and said:	1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
2 and because of this I am disturbed. So now my thoughts provide me with an answer, and from my understanding a spirit gives me a reply.	2 In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
3 A rebuke which puts me to shame I hear,	3 The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
4 Do you not know this from olden time, since man was placed upon the earth,	4 This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
5 That the triumph of the wicked is short and the joy of the impious but for a moment?	5 that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
6 Though his pride mount up to the heavens and his head reach to the clouds,	6 If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 Yet he perishes forever like the fuel of his fire, and the onlookers say, "Where is he?"	7 in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”
8 Like a dream he takes flight and is not found again; he fades away like a vision of the night.	8 Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
9 The eye which saw him does so no more; nor shall his dwelling again behold him.	9 The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
10 and his hands shall yield up his riches.	10 His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
11 Though his frame is full of youthful vigor, this shall lie with him in the dust.	11 His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue,	12 For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 Though he retains it and will not let it go but keeps it still within his mouth,	13 He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
14 Yet in his stomach the food shall turn; it shall be venom of asps inside him.	14 His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
15 The riches he swallowed he shall disgorge; God shall compel his belly to disown them.	15 The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
16 The poison of asps he shall drink in; the viper's fangs shall slay him.	16 He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
17 He shall see no streams of oil, no torrents of honey or milk.	17 (May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
18 Restoring his gains, he shall not enjoy them; though his wealth increases, he shall not rejoice.	18 He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.
19 Because he has oppressed the poor, and stolen a patrimony he had not built up,	19 For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
20 Though he has known no quiet in his greed, his treasures shall not save him.	20 And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.
21 Therefore his prosperity shall not endure,	21 Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
22 When he abounds to overflowing, he shall be brought into straits, and nought shall be left of his goods.	22 When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
23 God shall send against him the fury of his wrath and rain down his missiles of war upon him.	23 May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.
24 Should he escape the iron weapon, the bow of bronze shall pierce him through;	24 He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
25 The dart shall come out of his back; terrors shall fall upon him.	25 which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.
26 Complete darkness is in store for him; the fire which shall consume him needs not to be fanned.	26 All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.
27 The heavens shall reveal his guilt, and the earth shall rise up against him.	27 The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The flood shall sweep away his house with the waters that run off in the day of God's anger.	28 The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man, and the heritage appointed him by God.	29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.