Job 20
Easy-to-Read Version
Zophar Answers Job
20 Then Zophar from Naamah answered:
2 “You upset me, so I must answer you.
I must tell you what I am thinking.
3 You insulted me with your answers!
But I am wise and know how to answer you.
4-5 “You know that the joy of the wicked does not last long.
That has been true a long time, ever since Adam was[a] put on earth.
Those who don’t know God are happy for only a short time.
6 Maybe an evil man’s pride will reach up to the sky,
and his head will touch the clouds.
7 But he will be gone forever like his own body waste.
People who knew him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 Like a dream, he will fly away, never to be found.
He will be chased away like a bad dream.[b]
9 Those who knew him before will not see him again.
His family will never again get to see him.
10 His children will have to give back what he took from the poor.
His own hands will give up his wealth.
11 When he was young, his bones were strong,
but, like the rest of his body, they will soon lie in the dirt.
12 “Evil tastes sweet in his mouth.
He keeps it under his tongue to enjoy it fully.
13 He hates to let it go
and holds it in his mouth.
14 But that evil will turn sour in his stomach.
It will be like a snake’s bitter poison inside him.
15 The evil man will spit out the riches he has swallowed.
God will make him vomit them up.
16 What he drank will be like a snake’s poison;
it will kill him like the bite of a deadly snake.
17 He will never again enjoy so much wealth—
rivers flowing with honey and cream.[c]
18 He will be forced to give back his profits.
He will not be allowed to enjoy what he worked for,
19 because he hurt the poor and left them with nothing.
He took houses he did not build.
20 “The evil man is never satisfied.
But the things he wants cannot save him.
21 After filling himself, there is nothing left.
His success will not continue.
22 Even while he has plenty, he will be pressed down with trouble.
His problems will come down on him!
23 If he does get all he wants,
God will throw his burning anger against him.
God will attack him and rain down punishment on him.
24 Maybe he will run away from an iron sword,
but then a bronze arrow[d] will strike him down.
25 It will go through his body
and stick out of his back.
Its shining point will pierce his liver,
and he will be shocked with terror.
26 All his treasures will be lost in darkness.
He will be destroyed by a fire, a fire that no human started.
It will destroy everything left in his house.
27 Heaven will prove that he is guilty.
The earth will be a witness against him.
28 His house and everything in it will be carried away
in the flood of God’s anger.
29 That is what God will do to those who are evil.
That is what he plans to give them.”
Footnotes
- Job 20:4 Adam was Or “people were.”
- Job 20:8 bad dream Or “vision of the night.”
- Job 20:17 rivers … cream A figure meaning a plentiful supply of rich food. The word translated “cream” could mean butter, curds, or yogurt.
- Job 20:24 bronze arrow Literally, “bronze bow.” Or “powerful bow,” possibly a bow made of sinew, wood and horn.
Job 20
King James Version
20 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which 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 meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath 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 floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: 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 steel shall strike him through.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
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.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International