Thematic Bible

Job 20:1

ZOPHAR THE NAAMATHITE SPEAKS:

Job 20:2

My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer for I am greatly disturbed.

Job 20:3

I hear a rebuke that dishonors me. Therefore my understanding inspires me to reply.

Job 20:4

Do you not know from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth?

Job 20:5

The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

Job 20:6

Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

Job 20:7

he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say: Where is he?

Job 20:8

He flies away like a dream banished like a vision of the night. He cannot be found!

Job 20:9

The eye that saw him will not see him again. His place (home) will look on him no more.

Job 20:10

His children must make amends to the poor. He must give back his wealth.

Job 20:11

The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.

Job 20:12

Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,

Job 20:13

though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

Job 20:14

yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.

Job 20:15

He will spit out the riches he swallowed. God will make his stomach vomit them up.

Job 20:16

He will suck the poison of serpents. The fangs of an adder (cobra) will kill him.

Job 20:17

He will not look upon the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

Job 20:18

What he toiled for he must give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

Job 20:19

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build.

Job 20:20

He will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.

Job 20:21

There is nothing left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.

Job 20:22

Distress will overtake him in the midst of his plenty. The full force of misery will come upon him.

Job 20:23

With his belly full, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.

Job 20:24

Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

Job 20:25

He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him.

Job 20:26

Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

Job 20:27

The heavens will expose his guilt. The earth will rise up against him!

Job 20:28

A flood will carry off his house. Rushing waters will wash away his possessions on the day of God's wrath.

Job 20:29

This is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.