Job 20
New International Reader's Version
The Second Speech of Zophar
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,
2 “My troubled thoughts force me to answer you.
That’s because I’m very upset.
3 What you have just said dishonors me.
So I really have to reply to you.
4 “I’m sure you must know how things have always been.
They’ve been that way
ever since human beings were placed on this earth.
5 Those who are evil are happy for only a short time.
The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.
6 Their pride might reach all the way up to the heavens.
Their heads might touch the clouds.
7 But they will disappear forever,
like the waste from their own bodies.
Anyone who has seen them will say,
‘Where did they go?’
8 Like a dream they will fly away.
They will never be seen again.
They will be driven away like visions in the night.
9 The eyes that saw them won’t see them anymore.
Even their own families won’t remember them.
10 Their children must pay back what they took from poor people.
Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.
11 They might feel young and very strong.
But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.
12 “Anything that is evil tastes sweet to them.
They keep it under their tongues for a while.
13 They can’t stand to let it go.
So they hold it in their mouths.
14 But their food will turn sour in their stomachs.
It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.
15 They will spit out the rich food they swallowed.
God will make their stomachs throw it up.
16 They will suck the poison of a serpent.
The fangs of an adder will kill them.
17 They won’t enjoy streams that flow with honey.
They won’t enjoy rivers that flow with cream.
18 What they worked for they must give back
before they can eat it.
They won’t enjoy what they have earned.
19 They’ve crushed poor people and left them with nothing.
They’ve taken over houses they didn’t even build.
20 “No matter how much they have,
they always long for more.
But their treasure can’t save them.
21 There isn’t anything left for them to eat up.
Their success won’t last.
22 While they are enjoying the good life,
trouble will catch up with them.
Terrible suffering will come on them.
23 When they’ve filled their stomachs,
God will pour out his great anger on them.
He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.
24 They might run away from iron weapons.
But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.
25 They will pull the arrows out of their backs.
They will remove the shining tips from their livers.
They will be filled with terror.
26 Total darkness hides and waits for their treasures.
God will send a fire that will destroy them.
It will burn up everything that’s left in their tents.
27 Heaven will show their guilt to everyone.
The earth will be a witness against them.
28 A flood will carry their houses away.
Rushing water will wash them away
on the day when God judges.
29 Now you know what God will do to sinful people.
Now you know what he has planned for them.”
Iyov 20
Orthodox Jewish Bible
20 Then answered Tzophar the Na’amati, and said,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and ba’avur (because of [this]) I make haste.
3 I hear the musar that insults me, and the ruach of my understanding causeth me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since adam was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the resha’im is short, and the simchat chanef (joy of the hypocrite) but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to Shomayim, and his rosh reach unto the clouds;
7 Yet he shall perish lanetzach (forever) like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away as a chalom, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a chezyon lailah.
9 The ayin also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his makom any more behold him.
10 His banim shall seek the favor of the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
11 His atzmot are full of youthful vigor, which shall lie down with him in the aphar.
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his leshon;
13 Though he savor it, and forsake it not, but keep it still betoch (within) his mouth;
14 Yet his lechem in his stomach is turned sour; it is the venom of vipers within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; El shall drive them out of his beten.
16 He shall suck the venom of asps; the viper’s leshon shall slay him.
17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of devash and khemah (butter, curds).
18 That which he labored for shall he give back, and shall not swallow it down; he shall not rejoice according to his chayil temurah (business profit).
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the destitute; because he hath violently seized a bais which he built not;
20 Surely he knew no quiet in his beten; he shall not save anything which he desired.
21 There shall none of his ochel be left; therefore his posterity will not endure.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in distress; kol yad of misery shall come upon him.
23 When he is about to fill his beten, He shall cast the charon af (fury of His wrath) upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
24 He shall flee from the weapon of barzel (iron), and the keshet of bronze shall strike him through.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of their body; yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; emim (terrors [of death]) are upon them.
26 Kol choshech is reserved for his treasures; an eish not fanned shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his ohel.
27 Shomayim shall reveal his iniquity; and eretz shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his bais shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in [G-d’s] Yom Af.
29 This is the chelek of an adam rasha from Elohim, and the nachalah decreed unto him by El (G-d).
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