Job 20 - ESV Bible - Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:...

1 Then ¹Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 "Therefore my ²thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.

3 I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

4 Do you not know this from of old, ³since man was placed on earth,

5 ⁴that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 ⁵Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

7 he will perish forever like his own ⁶dung; those who have seen him will say, ⁷'Where is he?'

8 He will fly away like ⁸a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 ⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.

10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will ¹⁰give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his ¹¹youthful vigor, but it will lie ¹²down with him in the dust.

12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it ¹³under his tongue,

13 though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth,

14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of ¹⁴cobras within him.

15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

16 He will suck the poison of cobras; ¹⁵the tongue of a viper will kill him.

17 He will not look upon ¹⁶the rivers, the streams flowing with ¹⁷honey and ¹⁸curds.

18 He will ¹⁹give back the fruit of his toil and will not ²⁰swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.

19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.

20 "Because he ²¹knew no ²²contentment in his belly, ²³he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

21 There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure.

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

23 To fill his belly to the full, God^a will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him ²⁴into his body.

24 ²⁵He will flee from an iron weapon; ²⁶a bronze arrow will strike ²⁷him through.

25 It ²⁸is drawn forth and comes out of his body; ²⁹the glittering point comes out of his ³⁰gallbladder; ³¹terrors come upon him.

26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; ³²a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.

27 ³³The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

28 The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's^b wrath.

29 ³⁴This is the wicked man's portion from God, ³⁵the heritage decreed for him by God."

Job 20 ESV