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
Common English Bible
Traditional belief
20 Zophar from Naamah said:
2 Therefore, my troubled thoughts make me turn back—
because of my inner turmoil.
3 I hear teaching that insults me,
but I am forced to answer based on my own understanding.[a]
4 Do you know this from long ago—
from when humans were placed on earth—
5 that the rejoicing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless, brief?
6 Though their height reaches heaven
and their heads touch the clouds,
7 they will perish forever like their dung;
those who saw them will say, “Where are they?”
8 They will disappear like a dream,
and none will find them,
carried away like a nighttime vision.
9 The eye that saw them will do so no more;
they won’t be seen again at home.
10 Their children will repay the poor;
their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Vigor filled their bones
and now sleeps with them in the dust.
12 Though wickedness is sweet in their mouths,
they hide it under their tongues;
13 they like it, won’t let it go;
they hold it in their cheeks.
14 Food turns their stomachs,
becoming a cobra’s poison inside.
15 They swallow wealth and vomit it;
God dislodges it from their belly.
16 They suck cobra’s poison;
a viper’s tongue kills them.
17 They won’t experience streams,
rivers of honey, and brooks of cream.
18 They won’t receive the reward for their labor;
they won’t enjoy the wealth from their business.
19 They crushed and abandoned the poor;
stole a house they didn’t build;
20 didn’t know contentment in their belly;
couldn’t escape with their treasure.
21 Nothing remained of their food,
so their riches will not endure.
22 Even in their plenty, they are hard-pressed;
all sorts of trouble come on them.
23 Let God[b] fill their belly,
unleash his burning anger on them,
rain punishing blows on them.
24 If they flee an iron weapon,
a bronze bow pierces them.
25 They pull it out, but it sticks out from their backs;
its shaft in their liver brings terror.
26 Complete darkness waits for their treasured possessions;
fire that no one stoked consumes them;
what’s left in their tent is ruined.
27 Heaven exposes their guilt;
earth opposes them.
28 Their household wealth will be carried off
by rushing streams on the day of his anger.
29 This is a wicked person’s lot from God,
their heritage decreed by God.
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Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible