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12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
    though he hide it under his tongue,
13 though he spare it, and will not let it go,
    but keep it still within his mouth;
14 yet his food in his bowels is turned.
    It is cobra venom within him.
15 He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again.
    God will cast them out of his belly.
16 He will suck cobra venom.
    The viper’s tongue will kill him.
17 He will not look at the rivers,
    the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18 He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down.
    He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
    He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.

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12 Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth,
    though he conceals it under his tongue,
13 though he savors it and delays swallowing it
    so he can taste it again and again in his mouth,[a]
14 his food will turn rancid in his stomach—
    it will become a cobra’s poison inside him.

15 “Though he swallows wealth, he will vomit it;
    God will dislodge it from his stomach.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
    the fangs[b] of a viper will slay him.
17 He won’t look at the rivers—
    the torrents of honey and curd.[c]

18 “He will restore what he has attained from his work
    and won’t consume it;
        he won’t enjoy the profits from his business transactions,
19 because he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
    he has seized a house that he didn’t build.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 20:13 Lit. can hold it in the middle of his palate
  2. Job 20:16 Or tongue
  3. Job 20:17 Or butter