Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

Job 20

1 Then c Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 "Therefore my d thoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
 3 I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
 4 Do you not know this from of old,
e since man was placed on earth,
 5 f that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
 6 g Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
 7 he will perish forever like his own h dung;
those who have seen him will say, i 'Where is he?'
 8 He will fly away like j a dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
 9 k The eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
 10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will l give back his wealth.
 11 His bones are full of his m youthful vigor,
but it will lie n down with him in the dust.

12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it o under his tongue,
 13 though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
 14 yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of p cobras within him.
 15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
 16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
q the tongue of a viper will kill him.
 17 He will not look upon r the rivers,
the streams flowing with s honey and t curds.
 18 He will u give back the fruit of his toil
and will not v swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
 19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.

20 "Because he w knew no x contentment in his belly,
y he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
 21 There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
 23 To fill his belly to the full,
God 1 will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him z into his body.
 24 a He will flee from an iron weapon;
b a bronze arrow will strike c him through.
 25 It d is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
e the glittering point comes out of his f gallbladder;
g terrors come upon him.
 26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
h a fire not fanned will devour him;
what is left in his tent will be consumed.
 27 i The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
 28 The possessions of his house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God's 2 wrath.
 29 j This is the wicked man's portion from God,
j the heritage decreed for him by God."

  1. Cross References
    Job 2:11
    Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
  2. Cross References
    Job 4:13
    Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men.
  3. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 4:32
    For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 37:35 - 36
    I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 14:13 - 14
    You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north.
    Obadiah 1:3 - 4
    The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?
  6. Cross References
    Psalms 83:10
    Who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
    Zephaniah 1:17
    I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord ; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
    1 Kings 14:10
    Therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.
    2 Kings 9:37
    And the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'
  7. Cross References
    Job 14:10
    But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
  8. Cross References
    Psalms 73:20
    Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
    Psalms 90:5
    You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:
    Isaiah 29:7 - 8
    And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
  9. Cross References
    Job 7:8
    The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
    Job 7:10
    He returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.
  10. Cross References
    Job 20:18
    He 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.
  11. Cross References
    Job 13:26
    For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
    Psalms 25:7
    Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
  12. Cross References
    Job 21:26
    They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 10:7
    His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
  14. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:33
    Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.
    Psalms 140:3
    They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:5
    They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
    Proverbs 23:32
    In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
  16. Cross References
    Psalms 36:8
    They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
    Jeremiah 17:6
    He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:13 - 14
    He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.
  18. Cross References
    Job 29:6
    When my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
  19. Cross References
    Job 20:10
    His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
  20. Cross References
    Job 20:15
    He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:8
    The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
  22. Cross References
    Proverbs 17:1
    Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
  23. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 5:13 - 14
    There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt.
  24. Cross References
    Numbers 11:33
    While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague.
    Psalms 78:30 - 31
    But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:18
    He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
    Jeremiah 48:44
    He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
    Amos 5:19
    As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.
  26. Cross References
    2 Samuel 22:35
    He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
  27. Cross References
    Judges 5:26
    She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.
  28. Cross References
    Judges 3:22
    And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out.
  29. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:41
    If I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me.
  30. Cross References
    Job 16:13
    His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
  31. Cross References
    Job 18:11
    Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels.
  32. Cross References
    Job 15:34
    For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
    Psalms 21:9
    You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
  33. Cross References
    Job 16:18 - 19
    O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.
  34. Cross References
    Job 27:13
    This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
    Job 18:21
    Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.
    Job 31:2 - 3
    What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
  35. Cross References
    Job 27:13
    This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
    Job 18:21
    Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.
    Job 31:2 - 3
    What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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