Shared Word Translation
Job 20
Zophar: The Joy of the Wicked Is Brief
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
“Therefore my troubling thoughts make me answer,
because of my agitation within me.
I hear a correction that insults me,
and a spirit from my understanding answers me.
Do you not know this from of old,
since humanity was placed upon the earth,
that the rejoicing of the wicked is brief
and the joy of the godless only for a moment?
Though his height rises to the heavens
and his head reaches the clouds,
like his own dung he perishes forever;
those who saw him say, ‘Where is he?’
He flies away like a dream and is not found;
he is chased away like a vision of the night.
The eye that saw him sees him no more,
and his place beholds him no longer.
His Children Will Seek the Favor of the Poor
His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his own hands will return his wealth.
His bones are full of youthful vigor,
but it lies down with him in the dust.
Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
though he spares it and will not let it go
but keeps it within his palate,
his food is changed in his stomach;
it becomes the venom of cobras within him.
He swallows wealth and vomits it up;
God drives it out of his belly.
He sucks the poison of cobras;
the tongue of a viper kills him.
He Will Not Enjoy What He Took
He will not look upon streams,
rivers flowing with honey and curds.
He returns what he labored for and does not swallow it;
according to the wealth of his trade,
he will not enjoy it.
For he crushed and abandoned the poor;
he seized a house he did not build.
Because he knew no rest in his belly,
he will not save anything he desired.
Nothing escaped his devouring;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
In the fullness of his abundance he will be distressed;
every hand of misery will come against him.
God Will Send His Burning Anger
When he is about to fill his belly,
God will send against him the burning of his anger
and rain it upon him as his food.
He flees from an iron weapon,
but a bronze bow pierces him.
He pulls the arrow out, and it comes from his back;
the glittering point comes out from his gall.
Terrors come upon him.
Complete darkness is stored up for his treasures;
a fire not blown by human breath consumes him.
It devours what remains in his tent.
The heavens reveal his guilt,
and the earth rises against him.
The produce of his house is carried away,
flowing off on the day of God’s anger.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
and the inheritance appointed to him by God.”