Job 20

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:

2 “I'm forced to reply because I'm really upset!

In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.

3 What I hear you say insults me, but I know how to reply to you!

The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.

4 Don't you know that since ancient times, since human beings were put on this earth,

This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:

5 that the triumph of the wicked doesn't last long, that those who reject God are only happy for a short time?

that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.

6 Even though they are so tall they reach the heavens, even though their heads reach the clouds,

If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

7 they will vanish forever like their own excrement. People who knew them will ask, ‘Where have they gone?’

in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”

8 They will vanish like a dream, never to be found, fleeing like a vision of the night.

Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.

9 Those who once saw them will not see them anymore; their families will never set eyes on them again.

The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.

10 Their children will have to pay back the poor; they will have to return their wealth.

His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.

11 Though the wicked have bodies that are young and strong, they will die and be buried.

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

12 Though evil tastes sweet in their mouths and they hide it under their tongues,

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

13 not letting it go but keeping it in their mouths,

He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.

14 in their stomachs it turns bitter, becoming like snake venom inside them.

His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.

15 They swallow wealth and vomit it up again; God forces it from their stomachs.

The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.

16 They suck in snake venom; the bite of the viper will kill them.

He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.

17 They will not live to enjoy the streams, the rivers of milk and honey.

(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)

18 They will have to give back what they have gained and will not have any benefit; they will not enjoy any of their profits.

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 For they have oppressed and abandoned the poor; they have seized houses they did not build.

For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.

20 Because their greed was never satisfied, nothing they liked is left that they didn't consume.

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 Nothing escapes their ravenous appetites, so their happiness doesn't last long.

Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.

22 Even when the wicked have all that they want they run into trouble; all kinds of misery will fall upon them.

When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.

23 While they are busy filling their bellies, God's hostility will burn against them, raining down on them.

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 As they flee to escape an iron weapon, a bronze arrow will strike them down.

He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,

25 The arrow is pulled out of their gall bladder, glistening with blood. They are absolutely terrified!

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 All they value will disappear into the darkness; divine fire will destroy them; all they have left will go up in smoke.

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 reveal what they have done wrong; the earth will rise up against them.

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

28 All their possessions will be carried from their homes; they will be dragged off on the day of God's judgment.

The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

29 This is the share the wicked receive from God, the inheritance God says they should have.”

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