Job 20:1-29 VOICE

[1] Zophar the Naamathite reiterated his concern for Job. [2] Zophar: My anguished thoughts force me to respond because I feel an urgency within myself. [3] I caught wind of your words that dishonor me, but I am prompted to answer based on my own spirit and understanding. [4] Don't you know how it has always been? Since humankind was first put here on the earth, [5] The celebrations of the wicked have been brief, and the joy of the profane lasts only a moment. [6] Even if he were tall enough to reach into the heavens and his head were to reach to the clouds, [7] He would still perish forever, like his own excrement; those who once looked upon him would wonder, "Where has he gone?" [8] Like a dream, he flies off where no one can find him; he is chased away only to vanish into the air like a vision of the night. [9] The eyes that saw him before see him no more; his home doesn't ever welcome him again. [10] His children beg at the door of the poor; his hands render his wealth back to them. [11] The vigor of youth had a home, a residence in his bones, but it lies down in the dust with him. [12] Though his wrongdoing is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, [13] Though he holds it close and will not let it go (but must keep it in his mouth), [14] His food will be transformed within him into the bitter venom of the asp. [15] The wealth he has swallowed will be poison. He will vomit it up-God will cast it out. [16] It is as they say, "He sucks the venom of asps and is slain by the tongue of the viper." [17] Never again will he gaze at the brook's edge or see streams that flow with milk and honey- [18] The food for which he worked he vomits up or cannot swallow, and the gains of his trading, he can never enjoy. [19] After all, he's an oppressor; he's crushed and forsaken the poor; he made his home in a house he stole from another, a house he did not build himself. [20] Because he's never known inner peace, he has seized everything he's ever craved. [21] Because he consumed all he could see, nothing is left; his prosperity cannot last. [22] When he is fat with satisfaction, the belt of distress will tighten around him and the hands of the downtrodden will rise up against him. [23] When he has filled up his belly, God will visit him with His ferocious anger; it will rain down on him while he is eating. [24] Let him attempt to escape the iron weapon. Instead, a bow of bronze will send death to tear into him. [25] When the arrow is drawn it comes out of his back, and the shining arrowhead comes out of his organ, bringing terror upon him. [26] A great darkness waits for and stalks everything he values. A mysterious fire-unstoked yet burning hot-will consume him and devour everything and everyone left behind in his tent. [27] The skies will tell on him, exposing his wrongdoing; the earth will rebel against him. [28] All that he labored to build will be carried off, washed away in the day of God's furious anger. [29] This is how it will be for the wicked of humanity before God; this is the inheritance God bequeaths them.