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The Book of Job

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- Chapter 20 -

Zophar's proclamation about the wicked

1
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
2
In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
3
The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.(a)
4
This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
5
that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
6
If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
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in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”(b)
8
Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
9
The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
10
His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
11
His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
12
For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13
He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
14
His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
15
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
16
He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
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(May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
18
He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.(c)
19
For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
20
And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.
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Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
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When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
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May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.
24
He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,(d)
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which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.
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All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.
27
The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
28
The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.

Footnotes

(a)20:3 The phrase ‘spiritus intelligentiæ meæ’ means ‘the spirit of my understanding.’ However, in English, we tend to phrase that idea in this way: ‘my spirit of understanding.’ It could be phrased either way.(Conte)
(b)20:7 These two verses refer to the Antichrist, in his attempt at a false ascension to Heaven.(Conte)
(c)20:18 According to the multitude of his devices:That is, his stratagems to gratify his passions and to oppress and destroy the poor.(Challoner)
(d)20:24 This last phrase can also be translated as: ‘will fall in a flying fortress.’ Such a translation implies an eschatological meaning to this passage, a passage which in my view refers to the Antichrist.(Conte)

Zophar's proclamation about the wicked

1
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2
“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3
I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4
Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
5
that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6
Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
7
yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8
He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9
The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
10
His children will seek the favor of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
11
His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
12
“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
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though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,
14
yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
15
He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
16
He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
17
He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18
He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
19
For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
20
“Because he knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
21
There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22
In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
23
When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
24
He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
25
He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
26
All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
27
The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
28
The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
29
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
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