Job

Job 20 ©

1 Zophar sheweth in his turn the certain downfall and portion of the wicked.

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THEN answered aZophar the Naamathite, and said,

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Therefore bdo my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this 1I make haste.

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I have cheard the *check of my reproach, and dthe spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

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

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fThat the triumphing of the wicked is 2short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

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Though his excellency gmount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the 3clouds;

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

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

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

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4His lchildren shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall mrestore their goods.

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His nbones are full of the sin of his youth, which oshall lie down with him in the dust.

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

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Though he qspare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still 5within his mouth:

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

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

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He tshall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

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He ushall not see the rivers, the 6floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

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That vwhich he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: 7according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

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wBecause he hath 8oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

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xSurely he shall not 9feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of ythat which he desired.

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10There shall none of his *meat be zleft; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

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aIn the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the 11wicked shall come upon him.

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

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

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

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

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

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iThe increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his jwrath.

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kThis is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage 12appointed unto him by God.