Chapter 20

¹And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, ²Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me. ³I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding. ⁴Knowest thou [not] this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth, ⁵The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment? ⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, ⁷Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? ⁸He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night. ⁹The eye which saw him shall [see him] not again; and his place beholdeth him no more. ¹⁰His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth. ¹¹His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust. ¹²Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth [and] he hide it under his tongue, ¹³[Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth, ¹⁴His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him. ¹⁵He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. ¹⁶He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper`s tongue shall kill him. ¹⁷He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter. ¹⁸That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice [therein]. ¹⁹For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build. ²⁰Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired. ²¹Nothing escaped his greediness; therefore his prosperity shall not endure. ²²In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him. ²³It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh. ²⁴If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through. ²⁵He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him. ²⁶All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall feed upon what is left in his tent. ²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. ²⁸The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger. ²⁹This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.