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Job 20
New International Version
Job 20
New International Version
Zophar
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite(A) replied:
2 “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer
because I am greatly disturbed.(B)
3 I hear a rebuke(C) that dishonors me,
and my understanding inspires me to reply.
4 “Surely you know how it has been from of old,(D)
ever since mankind[a] was placed on the earth,
5 that the mirth of the wicked(E) is brief,
the joy of the godless(F) lasts but a moment.(G)
6 Though the pride(H) of the godless person reaches to the heavens(I)
and his head touches the clouds,(J)
7 he will perish forever,(K) like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’(L)
8 Like a dream(M) he flies away,(N) no more to be found,
banished(O) like a vision of the night.(P)
9 The eye that saw him will not see him again;
his place will look on him no more.(Q)
10 His children(R) must make amends to the poor;
his own hands must give back his wealth.(S)
11 The youthful vigor(T) that fills his bones(U)
will lie with him in the dust.(V)
12 “Though evil(W) is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue,(X)
13 though he cannot bear to let it go
and lets it linger in his mouth,(Y)
14 yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;(Z)
it will become the venom of serpents(AA) within him.
15 He will spit out the riches(AB) he swallowed;
God will make his stomach vomit(AC) them up.
16 He will suck the poison(AD) of serpents;
the fangs of an adder will kill him.(AE)
17 He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers(AF) flowing with honey(AG) and cream.(AH)
18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;(AI)
he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.(AJ)
19 For he has oppressed the poor(AK) and left them destitute;(AL)
he has seized houses(AM) he did not build.
20 “Surely he will have no respite from his craving;(AN)
he cannot save himself by his treasure.(AO)
21 Nothing is left for him to devour;
his prosperity will not endure.(AP)
22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;(AQ)
the full force of misery will come upon him.(AR)
23 When he has filled his belly,(AS)
God will vent his burning anger(AT) against him
and rain down his blows on him.(AU)
24 Though he flees(AV) from an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.(AW)
25 He pulls it out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors(AX) will come over him;(AY)
26 total darkness(AZ) lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire(BA) unfanned will consume him(BB)
and devour what is left in his tent.(BC)
27 The heavens will expose his guilt;
the earth will rise up against him.(BD)
28 A flood will carry off his house,(BE)
rushing waters[b] on the day of God’s wrath.(BF)
29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked,
the heritage appointed for them by God.”(BG)
Job 20
New Living Translation
Job 20
New Living Translation
Zophar’s Second Response to Job
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 “I must reply
because I am greatly disturbed.
3 I’ve had to endure your insults,
but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
4 “Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time,
ever since people were first placed on the earth,
5 the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
6 Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens
and their heads touch the clouds,
7 yet they will vanish forever,
thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
‘Where are they?’
8 They will fade like a dream and not be found.
They will vanish like a vision in the night.
9 Those who once saw them will see them no more.
Their families will never see them again.
10 Their children will beg from the poor,
for they must give back their stolen riches.
11 Though they are young,
their bones will lie in the dust.
12 “They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
letting it melt under their tongue.
13 They savored it,
holding it long in their mouths.
14 But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
a poisonous venom in their stomach.
15 They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
God won’t let them keep it down.
16 They will suck the poison of cobras.
The viper will kill them.
17 They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil
or rivers of milk and honey.
18 They will give back everything they worked for.
Their wealth will bring them no joy.
19 For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute.
They foreclosed on their homes.
20 They were always greedy and never satisfied.
Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.
21 Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves.
Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.
22 “In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble
and be overcome by misery.
23 May God give them a bellyful of trouble.
May God rain down his anger upon them.
24 When they try to escape an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
25 The arrow is pulled from their back,
and the arrowhead glistens with blood.[a]
The terrors of death are upon them.
26 Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness.
A wildfire will devour their goods,
consuming all they have left.
27 The heavens will reveal their guilt,
and the earth will testify against them.
28 A flood will sweep away their house.
God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.
29 This is the reward that God gives the wicked.
It is the inheritance decreed by God.”
Footnotes
- 20:25 Hebrew with gall.
Job 20
The Message
Job 20
The Message
Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round
Savoring Evil as a Delicacy
20 1-3 Zophar from Naamath again took his turn:
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!
You’ve put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot.
How dare you insult my intelligence like this!
Well, here’s a piece of my mind!
4-11 “Don’t you even know the basics,
how things have been since the earliest days,
when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What’s that?’
They fly off like a dream that can’t be remembered,
like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they’re nobodies,
unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
and they’ll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
and youthful and vigorous, they’ll die.
12-19 “They savor evil as a delicacy,
roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
unable to relax and enjoy anything they’ve worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
took what never belonged to them.
20-29 “Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are;
their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
but they can’t hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
they’re served up a plate full of misery.
When they’ve filled their bellies with that,
God gives them a taste of his anger,
and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
they run smack into another.
They’re knocked around from pillar to post,
beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They’re trapped in a house of horrors,
and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
nothing surviving God’s wrath.
There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked—
what they have to look forward to.”
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson