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Job 20

Zophar’s Sermon on the Wicked Man

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me.

³I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴“Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth,

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

⁶Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, Nor will his place behold him anymore.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth, And he hides it under his tongue,

¹³Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue will slay him.

¹⁷He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰“Becausehe knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires.

²¹Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last.

²²In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and comes out of the body; Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him;

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will depart, And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

²⁹This is the portion from God for a wicked man, The heritage appointed to him by God.”

Job 20 (NKJV)

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Job

Chapter 20

20 of 42