Job 20

1 And Zophar the Naamathite answers and says:

Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,

2 “Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, And because of my sensations in me.

For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.

3 I hear the discipline of my shame, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer:

I have to give ear to arguments which put me to shame, and your answers to me are wind without wisdom.

4 Have you known this from antiquity? Since the placing of man on earth?

Have you knowledge of this from early times, when man was placed on the earth,

5 That the singing of the wicked [is] short, And the joy of the profane for a moment,

That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute?

6 Though his excellence goes up to the heavens, He strikes his head against a cloud—

Though he is lifted up to the heavens, and his head goes up to the clouds;

7 He perishes as his own dung forever, His beholders say, Where [is] he?

Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?

8 He flees as a dream, and they do not find him, And he is driven away as a vision of the night,

He is gone like a dream, and is not seen again; he goes in flight like a vision of the night.

9 The eye has not seen him, and does not add. And his place does not behold him again.

The eye which saw him sees him no longer; and his place has no more knowledge of him.

10 His sons oppress the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

His children are hoping that the poor will be kind to them, and his hands give back his wealth.

11 His bones have been full of his youth, and it lies down with him on the dust.

His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.

12 Though he sweetens evil in his mouth, hides it under his tongue,

Though evil-doing is sweet in his mouth, and he keeps it secretly under his tongue;

13 has pity on it, and does not forsake it, and keeps it back in the midst of his palate,

Though he takes care of it, and does not let it go, but keeps it still in his mouth;

14 his food is turned in his bowels, the bitterness of cobras [is] in his heart.

His food becomes bitter in his stomach; the poison of snakes is inside him.

15 He has swallowed wealth, and vomits it. God drives it out from his belly.

He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God.

16 He sucks [the] gall of cobras, the tongue of a viper slays him.

He takes the poison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue of the snake is the cause of his death.

17 He does not look on streams, Flowing of brooks of honey and butter.

Let him not see the rivers of oil, the streams of honey and milk.

18 He is giving back [what] he labored for, and does not consume [it]; As a bulwark [is] his exchange, and he does not exult.

He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.

19 For he oppressed—he forsook the poor, He has taken a house away violently, And he does not build it.

Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up;

20 For he has not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he does not deliver himself.

There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight.

21 There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good does not stay.

He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end.

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he is constricted. Every perverse hand meets him.

Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him.

23 It comes to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sends forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Indeed, He rains on him in his eating.

God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain.

24 He flees from an iron weapon, A bow of bronze passes through him.

He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him;

25 One has drawn, And it comes out from the body, And a glittering weapon proceeds from his gall. Terrors [are] on him.

He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears.

26 All darkness is hid for his treasures, A fire not blown consumes him, The remnant is broken in his tent.

All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent.

27 The heavens reveal his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him.

The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him.

28 The increase of his house is removed, Poured forth in a day of His anger.

The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath.

29 This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.”

This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.