Job 20
MSG — The Message Bible (MSG)
NIRV — New International Reader's Version Bible (NIRV)
Verse 1
Zophar from Naamath again took his turn:
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!
You’ve put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot.
How dare you insult my intelligence like this!
Well, here’s a piece of my mind!
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,
Verse 2
— not in MSG
“My troubled thoughts force me to answer you.
That’s because I’m very upset.
That’s because I’m very upset.
Verse 3
— not in MSG
What you have just said dishonors me.
So I really have to reply to you.
So I really have to reply to you.
Verse 4
“Don’t you even know the basics,
how things have been since the earliest days,
when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What’s that?’
They fly off like a dream that can’t be remembered,
like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they’re nobodies,
unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
and they’ll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
and youthful and vigorous, they’ll die.
how things have been since the earliest days,
when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What’s that?’
They fly off like a dream that can’t be remembered,
like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they’re nobodies,
unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
and they’ll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
and youthful and vigorous, they’ll die.
“I’m sure you must know how things have always been.
They’ve been that way
ever since human beings were placed on this earth.
They’ve been that way
ever since human beings were placed on this earth.
Verse 5
— not in MSG
Those who are evil are happy for only a short time.
The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.
The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.
Verse 6
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Their pride might reach all the way up to the heavens.
Their heads might touch the clouds.
Their heads might touch the clouds.
Verse 7
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But they will disappear forever,
like the waste from their own bodies.
Anyone who has seen them will say,
‘Where did they go?’
like the waste from their own bodies.
Anyone who has seen them will say,
‘Where did they go?’
Verse 8
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Like a dream they will fly away.
They will never be seen again.
They will be driven away like visions in the night.
They will never be seen again.
They will be driven away like visions in the night.
Verse 9
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The eyes that saw them won’t see them anymore.
Even their own families won’t remember them.
Even their own families won’t remember them.
Verse 10
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Their children must pay back what they took from poor people.
Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.
Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.
Verse 11
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They might feel young and very strong.
But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.
But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.
Verse 12
“They savor evil as a delicacy,
roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
unable to relax and enjoy anything they’ve worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
took what never belonged to them.
roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
unable to relax and enjoy anything they’ve worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
took what never belonged to them.
“Anything that is evil tastes sweet to them.
They keep it under their tongues for a while.
They keep it under their tongues for a while.
Verse 13
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They can’t stand to let it go.
So they hold it in their mouths.
So they hold it in their mouths.
Verse 14
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But their food will turn sour in their stomachs.
It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.
It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.
Verse 15
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They will spit out the rich food they swallowed.
God will make their stomachs throw it up.
God will make their stomachs throw it up.
Verse 16
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They will suck the poison of a serpent.
The fangs of an adder will kill them.
The fangs of an adder will kill them.
Verse 17
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They won’t enjoy streams that flow with honey.
They won’t enjoy rivers that flow with cream.
They won’t enjoy rivers that flow with cream.
Verse 18
— not in MSG
What they worked for they must give back
before they can eat it.
They won’t enjoy what they have earned.
before they can eat it.
They won’t enjoy what they have earned.
Verse 19
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They’ve crushed poor people and left them with nothing.
They’ve taken over houses they didn’t even build.
They’ve taken over houses they didn’t even build.
Verse 20
“Such God-denying people are never content with what they have
or who they are;
their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
but they can’t hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
they’re served up a plate full of misery.
When they’ve filled their bellies with that,
God gives them a taste of his anger,
and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
they run smack into another.
They’re knocked around from pillar to post,
beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They’re trapped in a house of horrors,
and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
nothing surviving God’s wrath.
There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked—
what they have to look forward to.”
or who they are;
their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
but they can’t hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
they’re served up a plate full of misery.
When they’ve filled their bellies with that,
God gives them a taste of his anger,
and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
they run smack into another.
They’re knocked around from pillar to post,
beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They’re trapped in a house of horrors,
and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
nothing surviving God’s wrath.
There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked—
what they have to look forward to.”
“No matter how much they have,
they always long for more.
But their treasure can’t save them.
they always long for more.
But their treasure can’t save them.
Verse 21
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There isn’t anything left for them to eat up.
Their success won’t last.
Their success won’t last.
Verse 22
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While they are enjoying the good life,
trouble will catch up with them.
Terrible suffering will come on them.
trouble will catch up with them.
Terrible suffering will come on them.
Verse 23
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When they’ve filled their stomachs,
God will pour out his great anger on them.
He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.
God will pour out his great anger on them.
He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.
Verse 24
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They might run away from iron weapons.
But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.
But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.
Verse 25
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They will pull the arrows out of their backs.
They will remove the shining tips from their livers.
They will be filled with terror.
They will remove the shining tips from their livers.
They will be filled with terror.
Verse 26
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Total darkness hides and waits for their treasures.
God will send a fire that will destroy them.
It will burn up everything that’s left in their tents.
God will send a fire that will destroy them.
It will burn up everything that’s left in their tents.
Verse 27
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Heaven will show their guilt to everyone.
The earth will be a witness against them.
The earth will be a witness against them.
Verse 28
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A flood will carry their houses away.
Rushing water will wash them away
on the day when God judges.
Rushing water will wash them away
on the day when God judges.
Verse 29
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Now you know what God will do to sinful people.
Now you know what he has planned for them.”
Now you know what he has planned for them.”