Job 20

Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round

1-3 Savoring Evil as a Delicacy Zophar from Naamath again took his turn: "I can't believe what I'm hearing! You've put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot. How dare you insult my intelligence like this! Well, here's a piece of my mind!
4-11 "Don't you even know the basics, how things have been since the earliest days, when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth? The good times of the wicked are short-lived; godless joy is only momentary. The evil might become world famous, strutting at the head of the celebrity parade, But still end up in a pile of dung. Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, 'What's that?' They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered, like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light. Though once notorious public figures, now they're nobodies, unnoticed, whether they come or go. Their children will go begging on skid row, and they'll have to give back their ill-gotten gain. Right in the prime of life, and youthful and vigorous, they'll die.
12-19 "They savor evil as a delicacy, roll it around on their tongues, Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence— real gourmets of evil! But then they get stomach cramps, a bad case of food poisoning. They gag on all that rich food; God makes them vomit it up. They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison— a deadly diet—and it kills them. No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks. They spit out their food half-chewed, unable to relax and enjoy anything they've worked for. And why? Because they exploited the poor, took what never belonged to them.
20-29 "Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are; their greed drives them relentlessly. They plunder everything but they can't hold on to any of it. Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes; they're served up a plate full of misery. When they've filled their bellies with that, God gives them a taste of his anger, and they get to chew on that for a while. As they run for their lives from one disaster, they run smack into another. They're knocked around from pillar to post, beaten to within an inch of their lives. They're trapped in a house of horrors, and see their loot disappear down a black hole. Their lives are a total loss— not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean. God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see. Life is a complete wipeout for them, nothing surviving God's wrath. There! That's God's blueprint for the wicked— what they have to look forward to."

Job 20

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

2 Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.

3 I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.

4 Knowest thou not this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds;

7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him.

10 His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue,

13 Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;

14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned, It is the gall of asps within him.

15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.

16 He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper’s tongue shall slay him.

17 He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter.

18 That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.

19 For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

20 Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.

21 There was nothing left that he devoured not; Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, And will rain it upon him while he is eating.

24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of brass shall strike him through.

25 He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall: Terrors are upon him.

26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown by man shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house shall depart; His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.