Job 20:1-13 ▼

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

2 This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back--because of my feelings within me.

3 When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer.

4 Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

6 Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?'

8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

9 People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer.

10 His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth.

11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

12 If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,

13 if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth,