20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
20:2 “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.
20:3 I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.
20:4 “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind* was placed on the earth, / *Or Adam
20:5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
20:6 Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
20:7 he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.
20:9 The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.
20:10 His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.
20:11 The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
20:12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,
20:13 though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in his mouth,
20:14 yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.
20:15 He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.
20:16 He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.
20:17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
20:18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
20:20 “Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
20:21 Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
20:22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.
20:23 When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows on him.
20:24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
20:25 He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;
20:26 total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
20:27 The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.
20:28 A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters* on the day of God’s wrath. / *Or The possessions in his house will be carried off, / washed away
20:29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”