Jó 20

¹ Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and saide,

² Doubtles my thoughts cause me to answere, and therefore I make haste.

³ I have heardHe declares that two things moved him to speak: that is, because Job seemed to touch him, and because he thought he had knowledge sufficient to confute him.the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

⁴ Knowest thou not this of olde? and since God placed man vpon the earth,

⁵ That the reioycing of the wicked is short, and that the ioy of hypocrites is but a moment?

⁶ ThoughHis purpose is to prove Job to be a wicked man, and a hypocrite, because God punished him, and changed his prosperity into adversity.his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

⁷ Yet shall hee perish for euer, like his dung, and they which haue seene him, shall say, Where is hee?

⁸ He shal flee away as a dreame, and they shal not finde him, and shall passe away as a vision of the night,

⁹ So that the eye which had seene him, shall do so no more, & his place shal see him no more.

¹⁰ His children shallWhile the father through ambition and tyranny oppressed the poor, the children through poverty and misery will seek favour from the poor.seek to please the poor, and his hands shallSo that the thing which he has taken away by violence will be restored again by force.restore their goods.

¹¹ His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, whichMeaning that he will carry nothing away with him but his sin.shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹² Though wickedness beAs poison that is sweet in the mouth brings destruction when it comes into the body: so all vice at the first is pleasant, but God later turns it to destruction.sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;

¹³ And fauoured it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,

¹⁴ Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Aspes was in the middes of him.

¹⁵ He hath deuoured substance, and hee shall vomit it: for God shall drawe it out of his bellie.

¹⁶ He shall suck theHe compares ill-gotten goods to the venom of asps, which is a dangerous serpent, noting that Jobs great riches were not truly come by and therefore God plagues him justly for the same.poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷ He shall not see theThough God gives all other abundance from his blessings yet he will have no part of it.rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

¹⁸ That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow [it] down: according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be],That is these raveners and spoilers of the poor will enjoy their theft but for a time for after God will take it from them, and cause them to make restitution so that it is only an exchange.and he shall not rejoice [therein].

¹⁹ For he hath vndone many: he hath forsaken the poore, and hath spoyled houses which he builded not.

²⁰ Surely he shall feele no quietnes in his bodie, neither shall he reserue of that which he desired.

²¹ There shall none of hisHe will leave nothing to his posterity.meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every handThe wicked will never be in rest: for one wicked man will seek to destroy another.of the wicked shall come upon him.

²³ [When] he is about to fill his belly, [God] shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him,Some read, upon his flesh, alluding to Job, whose flesh was smitten with a scab.and shall rain [it] upon him while he is eating.

²⁴ He shall flee from the yron weapons, and the bow of steele shal strike him through.

²⁵ It is drawn, and cometh out of theSome read, of the quiver.body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him.

²⁶ All fear and sorrow will light on him when he thinks to escape.All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire notThat is, fire from heaven, or the fire of God's wrath.blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

²⁷ The heauen shal declare his wickednes, & the earth shal rise vp against him.

²⁸ TheMeaning, the children of the wicked will flow away like rivers and be dispersed in various places.increase of his house shall depart, [and his goods] shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

²⁹ This [is] the portion of a wicked man fromThus God will plague the wicked.God, and the heritage appointed unto him byAgainst God, thinking to excuse himself, and to escape God's hand.God.