GodsWord - Job - 20

20:1  Then Zophar from Naama replied to Job,

20:2  "My disturbing thoughts make me answer, and because of them I am upset.

20:3  I have heard criticism that makes me ashamed, but a spirit beyond my understanding gives me answers.

20:4  "Don't you know that from ancient times, from the time humans were placed on earth,

20:5  the triumph of the wicked is short-lived, and the joy of the godless person lasts only a moment?

20:6  If his height reaches to the sky and his head touches the clouds,

20:7  he will certainly rot like his own feces. Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

20:8  He will fly away like a dream and not be found. He will be chased away like a vision in the night.

20:9  Eyes that saw him will see him no more. His home will not look at him again.

20:10  His children will have to ask the poor for help. His own hands will have to give back his wealth.

20:11  His bones, once full of youthful vigor, will lie down with him in the dust.

20:12  "Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue. . . .

20:13  Though he savors it and won't let go of it and he holds it on the roof of his mouth,

20:14  the food in his belly turns sour. It becomes snake venom in his stomach.

20:15  He vomits up the riches that he swallowed. God forces them out of his stomach.

20:16  The godless person sucks the poison of snakes. A viper's fang kills him.

20:17  He won't be able to drink from the streams or from the rivers of honey and buttermilk.

20:18  He will give back what he earned without enjoying it. He will get no joy from the profits of his business

20:19  because he crushed and abandoned the poor. He has taken by force a house that he didn't build.

20:20  He will never know peace in his heart. He will never allow anything he desires to escape his grasp.

20:21  "Nothing is left for him to eat. His prosperity won't last.

20:22  Even with all his wealth the full force of misery comes down on him.

20:23  Let that misery fill his belly. God throws his burning anger at the godless person and makes his wrath come down on him like rain.

20:24  If that person flees from an iron weapon, a bronze bow will pierce him.

20:25  He pulls it out, and it comes out of his back. The glittering point comes out of his gallbladder. "Terrors come quickly to the godless person:

20:26  Total darkness waits in hiding for his treasure. A fire that no one fans will burn him. Whatever is left in his tent will be devoured.

20:27  Heaven exposes his sin. Earth rises up against him.

20:28  A flood will sweep away his house, a flash flood on the day of his anger.

20:29  This is the reward God gives to the wicked person, the inheritance God has appointed for him."