Job 20
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 “That is why my thoughts make me answer, because I feel such urgency within me.
3 I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
4 Surely you know this: it has been true from long ago, since humankind was placed on the earth:
5 The triumph of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment.
6 Though his pride rises to the heavens and his head reaches the clouds,
7 he will perish forever, like his own dung. Those who saw him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will vanish like a dream and cannot be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
9 The eye that once saw him will see him no more; his place will never see him again.
10 His children will have to make amends to the poor, and his own hands will give back his wealth.
11 His bones are filled with youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
12 Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue.
13 He savors it and will not let it go; he holds it in his mouth.
14 But his food turns sour in his stomach; it becomes the poison of cobras inside him.
15 He swallowed wealth, but he will vomit it up; God will drive it out of his belly.”
16 “He sucks the poison of cobras; the viper’s tongue will kill him.
17 He will not see the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 He must give back what he gained and cannot swallow it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his trade.
19 For he crushed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.
20 Because he knew no contentment within, he will not save anything he desired.
21 Nothing was left for him to eat; so his prosperity will not last.
22 In the fullness of his abundance, he will be in distress; every hand of suffering will come against him.
23 As he fills his belly, God will send the heat of his anger against him and rain it down upon him as his food.
24 He flees from an iron weapon, but a bronze bow will pierce him.
25 The arrow is drawn out and comes from his body; its glittering point comes from his bile. Terrors come upon him.
26 Total darkness is stored up for his treasures. A fire that no one has fanned will consume him, and disaster will overtake whatever remains in his tent.
27 The heavens will reveal his guilt, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The yield of his house will be swept away, carried off on the day of God’s anger.
29 This is the portion God assigns to the wicked, the inheritance God’s word reserves for him.”
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