Job 20:1-13 ▼

1 Then Zophar from Naamath replied:

2 |Therefore my anxious thoughts cause me to answer because I'm agitated within me.

3 Whenever I hear an insulting rebuke, I respond from my spirit because I understand.|

4 |Haven't you known this from ancient times, since mankind was placed on the earth?

5 The wicked triumph only briefly; the joy of the godless is momentary.

6 Though he grow as tall as the sky, or though his head touches the clouds,

7 he'll perish forever, like his own excrement; those who saw him will ask, 'Where is he?'

8 He'll vanish like a dream, and no one will find him; he will be chased away like a night vision.|

9 |An eye that gazes at him won't do so again; and his place won't even recognize him.

10 His sons will make amends to the poor; their hands will return his wealth.

11 Though his bones were full of youthful vigor; yet they will lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, though he conceals it under his tongue,

13 though he savors it and delays swallowing it so he can taste it again and again in his mouth,