RSV Job 20 Chapter
20:1
Then Zophar the Na'amathite answered:
20:2
'Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.
20:3
I hear censure which insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
20:4
Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed upon earth,
20:5
that the exulting of the wicked is short, and 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
he will perish for ever like his own dung;those who have seen him will say, Where is he?'
20:8
He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
20:9
The eye which saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.
20:10
His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
20:11
His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12
'Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,
20:13
though he is loath to let it go, and holds it in his mouth,
20:14
yet his food is turned in his stomach;it is the gall of asps within him.
20:15
He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;God casts them out of his belly.
20:16
He will suck the poison of asps;the tongue of a viper will kill him.
20:17
Hewill not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
20:18
He will give back the fruit of his toil, and will not swallow it down;from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.
20:19
For he has crushed and abandoned the poor, he has seized a house which he did not build.
20:20
'Because his greed knew no rest, he will not save anything in which he delights.
20:21
There was nothing left after he had eaten;therefore his prosperity will not endure.
20:22
In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits;all the force of misery will come upon him.
20:23
To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him, and rain it upon him as his food.
20:24
He will flee from an iron weapon;a bronze arrow will strike him through.
20:25
It is drawn forth and comes out of his body, the glittering point comes out of his gall;terrors come upon him.
20:26
Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;a fire not blown upon will devour him;what is left in his tent will be consumed.
20:27
The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
20:28
The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
20:29
This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.'