# Job 20 
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1. Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 
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2. “Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. 
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3. I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me. 
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4. Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, 
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5. that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? 
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6. Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, 
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7. he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ 
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8. He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. 
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9. The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him. 
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10. His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth. 
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11. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. 
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12. “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, 
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13. though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, 
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14. yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. 
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15. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. 
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16. He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. 
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17. He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. 
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18. He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. 
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19. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build. 
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20. “Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him. 
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21. There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure. 
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22. In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him. 
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23. To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body. 
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24. He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through. 
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25. It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him. 
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26. Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed. 
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27. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. 
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28. The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath. 
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29. This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.” 

(ESV)