Job 20; Job 21

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Job 20

1 Then Zophar from Naama replied [to Job],

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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:

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.

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

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

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

Job 21

1 Then Job replied [to his friends],

2 "Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me.

3 Bear with me while I speak. Then after I've spoken, you may go on mocking.

4 Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn't I be impatient?

5 Look at me, and be shocked, and put [your] hand over [your] mouth.

6 When I remember it, I'm terrified, and shuddering seizes my body.

7 "Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful?

8 They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants.

9 Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn't use his rod on them.

10 Their bulls are fertile when they breed. Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.

11 They send their little children out [to play] like a flock of lambs, and their children dance around.

12 They sing with the tambourine and lyre, and they are happy with the music of the flute.

13 They spend their days in happiness, and they go peacefully to the grave.

14 But they say to God, 'Leave us alone. We don't want to know your ways.

15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?'

16 Anyhow, isn't their happiness in their own power? (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)

17 "How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster happen to them? How often does an angry God give them pain?

18 How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the storm sweeps away?

19 "[You say,] 'God saves a person's punishment for his children.' God should pay back that person so that he would know that it is a punishment.

20 His eyes should see his own ruin. He should drink from the wrath of the Almighty.

21 How can he be interested in his family after he's gone, when the number of his months is cut short?

22 "Can anyone teach God knowledge? Can anyone judge the Most High?

23 One person dies in his prime and feels altogether happy and contented.

24 His stomach is full of milk, and his bones are strong and healthy.

25 Another person, never having tasted happiness, dies with a bitter soul.

26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.

27 "You see, I know your thoughts and the schemes you plot against me

28 because you ask, 'Where is the house of the influential person? Where is the tent where wicked people live?'

29 Haven't you asked travelers? But you didn't pay attention to their directions.

30 On the day of disaster the wicked person is spared. On the day of [God's] anger he is rescued.

31 Who will tell him to his face how he lived? Who will pay him back for what he did?

32 He is carried to the cemetery, and his grave is guarded.

33 The soil in the creekbed is sweet to him. Everyone follows him. Countless others went before him.

34 How can you comfort me with this nonsense when your answers continue to betray me?"

Job 20; Job 21

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Job 20

Job 21