Job 18-20

1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

3Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

4You who tear yourself in anger— should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?

5Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

6The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

7His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.

8For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.

9A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.

10A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path.

11Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.

12His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side.

13It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

14He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.

15Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

16The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.

17The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land.

18He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

19He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

20Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.

21Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.”

1Then Job answered:

2“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?

3Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

4Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.

5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,

6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.

9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.

11His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.

12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

14My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.

15My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.

17My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.

18Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.

19All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,

24by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.

25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

27I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

28If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’

29then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”

1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.

3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.

4Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,

5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

6Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

7he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

8He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.

10His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.

11The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.

12Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

13though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

14yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.

15He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.

16He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.

17He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.

19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.

20Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.

21Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.

22In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.

23When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

24Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

25It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.

26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

27The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

28The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

29This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”