Job 20 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Zophar’s Sermon on the Wicked Man

Job 20:1

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

Job 20:2

Job 20:2“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.

Job 20:3

Job 20:3I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

Job 20:4

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

Job 20:5

Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

Job 20:6

Job 20:6Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,

Job 20:7

Job 20:7Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
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;
Yes, 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 behold him anymore.

Job 20:10

Job 20:10His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore 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,
And he hides it under his tongue,

Job 20:13

Job 20:13Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his mouth,

Job 20:14

Job 20:14Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom 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 viper’s tongue will slay him.

Job 20:17

Job 20:17He will not see the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

Job 20:18

Job 20:18He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.

Job 20:19

Job 20:19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

Job 20:20

Job 20:20“Because he knows no quietness in his heart,[fn]
He will not save anything he desires.

Job 20:21

Job 20:21Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.

Job 20:22

Job 20:22In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of misery will come against him.

Job 20:23

Job 20:23When 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.

Job 20:24

Job 20:24He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.

Job 20:25

Job 20:25It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.
Terrors come upon him;

Job 20:26

Job 20:26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

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

Job 20:29

Job 20:29This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God.”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(20:20)

Literally belly

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