Job 20

20 ¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: ² "This is why my troubled thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me. ³ I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and out of my understanding a spirit prompts me to reply. ⁴ Surely you know how it has been from ancient times, ever since mankind was placed on the earth: ⁵ the triumph of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment. ⁶ Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, ⁷ he will perish forever, like his own waste; those who had seen him will ask, 'Where is he?' ⁸ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found, chased off like a vision of the night. ⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more; his place will look on him no longer. ¹⁰ His children will beg from the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth. ¹¹ The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust. ¹² Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, ¹³ though he is loath to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴ yet his food turns sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of cobras within him. ¹⁵ He swallows down riches but vomits them up; God drives them out of his belly. ¹⁶ He sucks the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper kill him. ¹⁷ He will never look on the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds. ¹⁸ He must give back the fruit of his toil without swallowing it; he will not enjoy the profit of his trading. ¹⁹ For he crushed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build. ²⁰ Because his gut knew no peace, he will not escape with the things he craved. ²¹ Nothing was left for him to devour; therefore his prosperity will not endure. ²² In the fullness of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full weight of misery will come upon him. ²³ When he has filled his belly, God will unleash his burning anger against him and rain it down on him as his food. ²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze arrow will pierce him through. ²⁵ He pulls it out, and it comes from his body; the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors fall upon him. ²⁶ Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures; a fire no one kindled will consume him and devour whatever is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will expose his guilt, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ All the wealth of his house will be carried off, swept away in the day of God's wrath. ²⁹ This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage appointed for him by God."