Job 20:1-29
20 And Zoʹphar the Naʹa·ma·thite proceeded to reply and say:
2 “Therefore do my own disquieting thoughts themselves answer me,Even on account of my inward excitement.
3 An insulting exhortation to me I hear;And a spirit without the understanding that I have replies to me.
4 Have you at all times known this very thing,Since man* was put upon the earth,+
5 That the joyful cry of wicked people is short+And the rejoicing of an apostate is for a moment?
6 Although his excellency ascends to heaven itself+And his very head reaches to the clouds,
7 Like his manure cakes he perishes forever;+The very ones seeing him will say, ‘Where is he?’+
8 Like a dream he will fly off, and they will not find him;And he will be chased away like a vision of the night.+
9 The eye that has caught sight of him will not do so+ again,And no more will his place behold him.+
10 His own sons will seek the favor of lowly people,And his own hands will give back his valuable things.+
11 His own bones have been full of his youthful vigor,But with him it will lie down in mere dust.+
12 If what is bad tastes sweet in his mouth,If he causes it to melt away under his tongue,
13 If he has compassion upon it and does not leave it,And if he keeps holding it back in the midst of his palate,
14 His food itself will certainly be changed in his own intestines;It will be the gall of cobras within him.
15 Wealth he has swallowed down, but he will vomit it up;God* will drive it out from his very belly.
16 The venom of cobras he will suck;The tongue of a viper will kill him.+
17 He will never see the watercourses,+Torrential streams of honey and butter.
18 He will be giving back [his] acquired property and will not swallow [it] down;Like wealth from his trade, but which he will not enjoy.+
19 For he has crushed to pieces, he has left lowly ones;He has snatched away a house itself that he did not proceed to build.+
20 For he will certainly know no ease in his belly;By means of his desirable things he will not escape.+
21 There is nothing left over for him to devour;That is why his well-being will not endure.
22 While his plenty is at its peak he will be feeling anxious;+All the power* of misfortune itself will come against him.
23 Let it occur that, to fill his belly,He will send his burning anger upon him+And will rain [it] upon him, into his bowels.
24 He will run away+ from armor of iron;A bow of copper will cut him up.
25 A missile* itself will even go out through his back,And a glittering weapon* out through his gall;+Frightful objects will go against him.+
26 All darkness will be reserved for his treasured things;A fire that no one fanned will eat him up;+It will go badly with a survivor in his tent.
27 Heaven will uncover his error,+And earth will be in revolt against him.
28 A heavy shower will roll his house away;*There will be things poured forth on the day of his anger.+
29 This is the share of the wicked man* from God,*+Even his stated inheritance from God.”*
Footnotes
^ Or, “Adam.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Lit., “hand.”
^ “Missile,” by a correction; M, “One has drawn out [a weapon].”
^ “A glittering weapon.” Lit., “lightning.”
^ Or, “The increase of his house will roll away.”
^ Or, “earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “From God.” Heb., me·ʼElo·himʹ.
^ “From God.” Heb., me·ʼElʹ.
