20 1 Zophar showeth, that the wicked and the covetous shall have a short end, 22 though for a time they flourish.

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Doubtless my thoughts cause me to answer, and therefore I make haste.

I have heard [a]the correction of my reproach: therefore the spirit of mine understanding causeth me to answer.

Knowest thou not this of old? and since God placed man upon the earth,

That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and that the joy of the hypocrites is but a moment?

Though [b]his excellency mount up to the heaven, and his head reach unto the clouds,

Yet shall he perish forever like his dung, and they which have seen him, shall say, Where is he?

He shall flee away as a dream, and they shall not find him, and shall pass away as a vision of the night.

So that the eye which had seen him, shall do so no more, and his place shall see him no more.

10 His children shall [c]flatter the poor, and his hands shall [d]restore his substance.

11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, and [e]it shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 When wickedness was [f]sweet in his mouth, and he hid it under his tongue,

13 And favored it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,

14 Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Asps was in the midst of him.

15 He hath devoured substance, and he shall vomit it: for God shall draw it out of his belly.

16 He shall suck the [g]gall of Asps, and the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

17 He shall not see the [h]rivers, nor the floods and streams of honey and butter.

18 He shall restore the labor, and shall devour no more: even according to the substance shall be his exchange, [i]and he shall enjoy it no more.

19 For he hath undone many: he hath forsaken the poor, and hath spoiled houses which he built not.

20 Surely he shall feel no quietness in his body, neither shall he reserve of that which he desired.

21 There shall none of his [j]meat be left: therefore none shall hope for his goods.

22 When he shall be filled with his abundance, he shall be in pain, and the hand [k]of all the wicked shall assail him.

23 He shall be about to fill his belly, but God shall send upon him his fierce wrath, [l]and shall cause to rain upon him, even upon his meat.

24 He shall flee from the iron weapons, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

25 The arrow is drawn out, and cometh forth of the [m]body, and shineth of his gall, so fear cometh upon him.

26 [n]All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: the fire that is not [o]blown shall devour him, and that which remaineth in his tabernacle shall be destroyed.

27 The heaven shall declare his wickedness, and the earth shall rise up against him.

28 The [p]increase of his house shall go away: it shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of the wicked man from [q]God, and the heritage that he shall have of God, for his [r]words.

Footnotes

  1. Job 20:3 He declareth that two things moved him to speak: to wit, because Job seemed to touch him, and because he thought he had knowledge sufficient to confute him.
  2. Job 20:6 His purpose is to prove Job to be a wicked man, and an hypocrite, because God punished him, and changed his prosperity into adversity.
  3. Job 20:10 Whereas the father through ambition and tyranny oppressed the poor, the children through poverty and misery, shall seek favor at the poor.
  4. Job 20:10 So that the thing which he hath taken away by violence shall be restored again by force.
  5. Job 20:11 Meaning, that he shall carry nothing away with him but his sin.
  6. Job 20:12 As poison that is sweet in the mouth, bringeth destruction when it cometh into the body: so all vice at the first is pleasant, but afterward God turneth it to destruction.
  7. Job 20:16 He compareth evil gotten goods to the venom of Asps, which serpent is most dangerous: noting that Job’s great riches were not truly come by and therefore God did plague him justly for the same.
  8. Job 20:17 Though God give to all other abundance of his blessings, yet he shall have no part thereof.
  9. Job 20:18 That is, these raveners and spoilers of the poor shall enjoy their theft but for a time: for after, God will take it from them, and cause them to make restitution, so that it is but an exchange.
  10. Job 20:21 He shall leave nothing to his posterity.
  11. Job 20:22 The wicked shall never be in rest: for one wicked man shall seek to destroy another.
  12. Job 20:23 Some read, upon his flesh, alluding to Job, whose flesh was smitten with a scab.
  13. Job 20:25 Some read, of the quiver.
  14. Job 20:26 All fear and sorrow shall light upon him, when he thinketh to escape.
  15. Job 20:26 That is, fire from heaven, or the fire of God’s wrath.
  16. Job 20:28 Meaning, the children of the wicked shall flow away like rivers, and be dispersed in divers places.
  17. Job 20:29 Thus God will plague the wicked.
  18. Job 20:29 Against God, thinking to excuse himself, and to escape God’s hand.

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