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Job 20:1-29 — Zophar's Second Speech

Job.20.1-29

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: ²Therefore my troubled thoughts make me answer, because of the agitation within me. ³I hear a rebuke that shames me, and the spirit of my understanding answers me. ⁴Do you know this from of old, from the time humanity was placed on the earth, ⁵that the rejoicing of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment? ⁶Though his height rises to the heavens and his head reaches the clouds, ⁷he will perish forever like his own dung; those who saw him will say, 'Where is he?' ⁸He flies away like a dream and cannot be found; he is driven away like a vision in the night. ⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him. ¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his own hands will give back his wealth. ¹¹His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. ¹²Though evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue, ¹³though he is reluctant to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴yet in his belly his food turns; within him it becomes the venom of cobras. ¹⁵He has swallowed wealth, but he vomits it up ; God drives it from his belly. ¹⁶He sucks the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper kills him. ¹⁷He will not look upon streams, rivers flowing with honey and cream. ¹⁸He must give back what he labored for and will not swallow it down; he will not rejoice in the profit of his trading. ¹⁹For he crushed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build. ²⁰Because he knew no quiet in his belly, he will not escape with what he desires. ²¹Nothing escaped his devouring; therefore his prosperity will not endure. ²²In the fullness of his abundance he will be in distress; every hand of the wretched will come against him. ²³To fill his belly, God will send against him the burning of His anger and rain it upon him while he is eating. ²⁴He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze bow will pierce him. ²⁵He draws it out, and it comes from his body; the gleaming point comes out from his gall; terrors come upon him. ²⁶All darkness is stored up for his treasures; an unfanned fire will consume him; what remains in his tent will be ruined. ²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸The produce of his house will be carried away, poured out on the day of His anger. ²⁹This is the portion of a wicked person from God, the inheritance declared for him by God.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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