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Job 20 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

Job 20:1

Job 20:1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

Job 20:2

Job 20:2“Therefore my thoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.

Job 20:3

Job 20:3I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

Job 20:4

Job 20:4Do you not know this from of old,
since man was placed on earth,

Job 20:5

Job 20:5that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

Job 20:6

Job 20:6Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,

Job 20:7

Job 20:7he will perish forever like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

Job 20:8

Job 20:8He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

Job 20:9

Job 20:9The eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.

Job 20:10

Job 20:10His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will give back his wealth.

Job 20:11

Job 20:11His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
but it will lie down with him in the dust.

Job 20:12

Job 20:12“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,

Job 20:13

Job 20:13though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,

Job 20:14

Job 20:14yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of cobras within him.

Job 20:15

Job 20:15He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.

Job 20:16

Job 20:16He will suck the poison of cobras;
the tongue of a viper will kill him.

Job 20:17

Job 20:17He will not look upon the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.

Job 20:18

Job 20:18He 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.

Job 20:19

Job 20:19For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.

Job 20:20

Job 20:20“Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

Job 20:21

Job 20:21There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.

Job 20:22

Job 20:22In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

Job 20:23

Job 20:23To fill his belly to the full,
God[fn] will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him into his body.

Job 20:24

Job 20:24He will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike him through.

Job 20:25

Job 20:25It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;
terrors come upon him.

Job 20:26

Job 20:26Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
a fire not fanned will devour him;
what is left in his tent will be consumed.

Job 20:27

Job 20:27The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.

Job 20:28

Job 20:28The possessions of his house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God’s[fn] wrath.

Job 20:29

Job 20:29This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
the heritage decreed for him by God.”
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ESV Footnotes
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Job Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras