Job

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

1Then Zophar, the man from Naamah, answered Job. He said:

2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

2My troubled thoughts push me to answer you. That is why I speak so quickly.

3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

3I have heard you scold me, and it insulted me. But my understanding makes me reply.

4Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

4Don't you know how it has always been, ever since people were first placed on the earth?

5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

5A wicked man's winning does not last long. A godless man's joy lasts only a moment.

6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

6He may lift himself as high as the sky. His head may seem to reach the clouds.

7Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

7Yet he will be gone forever, like his own waste. People who saw him will ask, "Where is he?"

8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

8He will fly away like a dream, and no one will find him. He will be chased off like a vision in the night.

9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

9The eye that once saw him will not see him again. His own place will never look on him again.

10His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

10His children will have to beg the poor for kindness. His own hands must give back the wealth he took.

11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

11His bones are full of the wrongs he did when he was young. Those wrongs will lie down with him in the dust.

12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

12Doing evil tastes sweet in his mouth. He hides it under his tongue to keep the taste.

13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

13He will not let it go or spit it out. He holds it there in his mouth.

14Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

14But in his stomach that food turns sour. Inside him it becomes snake poison.

Note"Meat" in 1611 English meant food of any kind, not just animal meat. The same is true in verse 21.

15He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

15He swallowed down riches, but he will throw them back up. God will force them out of his belly.

16He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

16He will suck the poison of snakes. A viper's bite will kill him.

17He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

17He will never see the streams, the rivers of honey and cream.

18That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

18He must give back what he worked for, without ever tasting it. The more he made, the more he pays back. He gets no joy from it.

19Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

19He crushed poor people and left them with nothing. He grabbed houses he did not build.

20Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

20His hunger for more never lets him rest. He will keep nothing of what he wanted.

21There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

21Nothing is left for him to eat. His good times will not last.

22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

22Even when he has plenty, trouble will close in on him. Misery will come at him with full force.

23When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

23When he has filled his stomach, God will pour out his burning anger. It will rain down on him while he eats.

24He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

24He will run from an iron weapon. Then a bronze-tipped arrow will go straight through him.

NoteThe KJV's "bow of steel" means a weapon tipped with bronze. Steel did not exist yet in the world of this book.

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

25The arrow is pulled out of his back, the shining point coming from inside him. Terror falls on him.

26All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

26Total darkness waits for his hidden treasures. A fire that no one lit will burn him up. It will destroy what is left in his tent.

Note"Tabernacle" here simply means a tent, the man's home.

27The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

27The sky will show everyone the wrong he did. The earth will rise up against him.

28The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

28All that his house has gained will be carried off. His goods will wash away on the day God's anger comes.

29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

29This is what God hands a wicked man. This is the share God has set aside for him.