Job 20:4-29 - A Wicked Person's Joy Is Short, His Pain Long

⁴ Know you not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, ⁵ That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? ⁶ Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches unto the clouds; ⁷ Yet he shall perish forever like his own refuse: they who 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 also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. ¹⁰ His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. ¹¹ His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which 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 forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: ¹⁴ Yet his food in his body is soured, it is the gall of asps within him. ¹⁵ He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall 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 see the rivers, the brooks flowing with honey and butter. ¹⁸ That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: from the proceeds of business he shall not rejoice. ¹⁹ Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away a house which he built not;

²⁰ Surely he shall not feel quietness in his heart, he shall not save of that which he desired. ²¹ There shall none of his food be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. ²² In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in distress: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. ²³ When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. ²⁴ He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through. ²⁵ It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yea, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are upon him. ²⁶ All darkness shall be laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown upon shall consume him; it shall go ill with him who is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. ²⁸ The increase of his house shall depart, and 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.