Job 20

1 Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

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

Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me.

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

I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding.

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

Knowest thou [not] this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,

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

The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment?

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

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

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

Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

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

He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.

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

The eye which saw him shall [see him] not again; and his place beholdeth him no more.

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

His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.

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

His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust.

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

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth [and] he hide it under his tongue,

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

[Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth,

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

His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him.

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

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

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

He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall kill him.

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

He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter.

18 He 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.

That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice [therein].

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

For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build.

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

Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired.

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

Nothing escaped his greediness; therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

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

In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.

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

It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh.

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

If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.

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

He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

26 All 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.

All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall feed upon what is left in his tent.

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

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

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

The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger.

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

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