| Chapter 20 |
1 | And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
|
2 | Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me.
|
3 | I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding.
|
4 | Knowest thou [not] this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,
|
5 | The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment?
|
6 | Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds,
|
7 | Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
|
8 | He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.
|
9 | The eye which saw him shall [see him] not again; and his place beholdeth him no more.
|
10 | His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.
|
11 | His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust.
|
12 | Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth [and] he hide it under his tongue,
|
13 | [Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth,
|
14 | His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him.
|
15 | He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: łGod shall cast them out of his belly.
|
16 | He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall kill him.
|
17 | He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter.
|
18 | That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice [therein].
|
19 | For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build.
|
20 | Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired.
|
21 | Nothing escaped his greediness; therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
|
22 | In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.
|
23 | It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh.
|
24 | If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.
|
25 | He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
|
26 | All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall feed upon what is left in his tent.
|
27 | The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
|
28 | The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger.
|
29 | This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by łGod.
|