Job 20

¹ Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

² Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

³ I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, and the spirit of my understanding answereth me.

⁴ Knowest thou not this of old time, since man was placed upon earth,

⁵ That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

⁶ Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

⁷ Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

⁸ He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

⁹ The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰ His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands shall give back his wealth.

¹¹ His bones are full of his youth, but it shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹² Though wickedness be 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 meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵ He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶ He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷ He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.

¹⁸ That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; according to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.

¹⁹ For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away an house, and he shall not build it up.

²⁰ Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.

²¹ There was nothing left that he devoured not; therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: the hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.

²³ When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

²⁴ He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through.

²⁵ He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body: yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; terrors are upon him.

²⁶ All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown by man shall devour him; it shall consume that which is left in his tent.

²⁷ The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸ The increase of his house shall depart, his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

²⁹ This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.