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Job 20, RSV

20:1 Then Zophar the Na'amathite answered:

20:2 "Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.

20:3 I hear censure which insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

20:4 Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed upon earth,

20:5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

20:6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

20:7 he will perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, `Where is he?'

20:8 He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

20:9 The eye which saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.

20:10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.

20:11 His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.

20:12 "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,

20:13 though he is loath to let it go, and holds it in his mouth,

20:14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the gall of asps within him.

20:15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

20:16 He will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill him.

20:17 He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.

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

20:19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor, he has seized a house which he did not build.

20:20 "Because his greed knew no rest, he will not save anything in which he delights.

20:21 There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure.

20:22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits; all the force of misery will come upon him.

20:23 To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him, and rain it upon him as his food.

20:24 He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through.

20:25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body, the glittering point comes out of his gall; terrors come upon him.

20:26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown upon will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.

20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

20:28 The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.

20:29 This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God."

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