Job Chapter 20 Back Next{20:1} Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
{20:2} "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
{20:3} I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
{20:4} Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on
earth,
{20:5} that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
{20:6} Though his height mount up to the
heavens, and his head reach to the
clouds,
{20:7} yet he shall perish forever like his own
dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'
{20:8} He shall fly away as a
dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
{20:9} The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him.
{20:10} His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth.
{20:11} His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the
dust.
{20:12} "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
{20:13} though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;
{20:14} yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is
cobra venom within him.
{20:15} He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his
belly.
{20:16} He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.
{20:17} He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of
honey and
butter.
{20:18} That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
{20:19} For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
{20:20} "Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
{20:21} There was nothing left that he didn't devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
{20:22} In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
{20:23} When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
{20:24} He shall flee from the
iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
{20:25} He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his
liver. Terrors are on him.
{20:26} All
darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned
fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
{20:27} The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.
{20:28} The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
{20:29} This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."
Job Chapter 20 Back Next