Job 20 (ASV) - Holy Bible

¹Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

²Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.

³I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.

⁴Knowest thou `not' this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,

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

⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds;

⁷Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?

⁸He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

⁹The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹²Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue,

¹³Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;

¹⁴Yet his food in his bowels is turned, It is the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper's tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter.

¹⁸That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.

¹⁹For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

²⁰Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.

²¹There was nothing left that he devoured not; Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

²²In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.

²³When he is about to fill his belly, `God' will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, And will rain it upon him while he is eating.

²⁴He shall flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of brass shall strike him through.

²⁵He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall: Terrors are upon him.

²⁶All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown `by man' shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

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

²⁸The increase of his house shall depart; `His goods' shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.