Job 20

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for {this} I make haste. {I make...: Heb. my haste is in me}

I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

Knowest thou {not} this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

That the triumphing of the wicked {is} short, and the joy of the hypocrite {but} for a moment? {short: Heb. from near}

Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; {clouds: Heb. cloud}

{Yet} he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where {is} he?

He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

The eye also {which} saw him shall {see him} no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. {His children...: or, The poor shall oppress his children}

His bones are full {of the sin} of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, {though} he hide it under his tongue;

{Though} he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: {within...: Heb. in the midst of his palate}

{Yet} his meat in his bowels is turned, {it is} the gall of asps within him.

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

He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. {the floods...: or, streaming brooks}

That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow {it} down: according to {his} substance {shall} the restitution {be}, and he shall not rejoice {therein}. {his...: Heb. the substance of his exchange}

Because he hath oppressed {and} hath forsaken the poor; {because} he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; {oppressed: Heb. crushed}

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. {feel: Heb. know}

There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. {none...: or, be none left for his meat}

In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. {wicked: or, troublesome}

{When} he is about to fill his belly, {God} shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain {it} upon him while he is eating.

He shall flee from the iron weapon, {and} the bow of steel shall strike him through.

It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors {are} upon him.

All darkness {shall be} hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

The increase of his house shall depart, {and his goods} shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

This {is} the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. {appointed...: Heb. of his decree from God}