New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Job 20
3
What you have just said makes fun of me. So I really have to reply to you.
4
"I'm sure you must know how things have always been. They've been that way ever since man was placed on this earth.
5
Those who are evil are happy for only a short time. The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.
6
Their pride might reach all the way up to the heavens. Their heads might touch the clouds.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 11:4
7
But they will disappear forever, like the waste from their own bodies. Anyone who has seen them will say, 'Where did they go?'
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 83:10
Job 14:10
1 Kings 14:10
2 Kings 9:37
Job 4:20
Job 7:10
Job 8:18
Jeremiah 8:2
8
Like a dream they will fly away. They will never be seen again. They will be driven away like visions in the night.
Reference
9
The eyes that saw them won't see them anymore. Even their own families won't remember them.
Reference
10
Their children must pay back what they took from poor people. Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.
Reference
11
They might feel young and very strong. But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.
Reference
12
"Anything that is evil tastes sweet to them. They keep it under their tongues for a while.
Reference
13
They can't stand to let it go. So they hold it in their mouths.
14
But their food will turn sour in their stomachs. It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Romans 3:13
15
They will spit out the rich food they swallowed. God will make their stomachs throw it up.
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 23:8
16
They will suck the poison of a serpent. The fangs of an adder will kill them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Romans 3:13
17
They won't enjoy streams that flow with honey. They won't enjoy rivers that flow with cream.
Reference
Parallel theme
Job 29:6
18
What they worked for they must give back before they can eat it. They won't enjoy what they have earned.
Reference
19
They've crushed poor people and left them with nothing. They've taken over houses they didn't even build.
Reference
20
"No matter how much they have, they always long for more. But their treasure can't save them.
21
There isn't anything left for them to eat up. Their success won't last.
22
While they are enjoying the good life, trouble will catch up with them. Terrible suffering will come on them.
23
When they've filled their stomachs, God will pour out his burning anger on them. He'll strike them down with blow after blow.
Reference
Judgment
Numbers 11:33
24
They might run away from iron weapons. But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.
Reference
25
They will pull the arrows out of their backs. They will remove the shining tips from their livers. They will be filled with terror.
Reference
26
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.
Reference
Darkness
Isaiah 8:22
Matthew 8:12
Jude 1:13
Parallel theme
Psalm 21:9
Psalm 120:4
Isaiah 30:33
Matthew 3:12
28
A flood will carry their houses away. Rushing water will wash them away on the day when God judges.
Summary of Job 20
Job Chapter 20 contains Zophar's second response to Job and presents one of the strongest statements in the book about the temporary nature of wicked prosperity. Zophar is deeply convinced that the wicked may appear successful for a short time, but their success will inevitably end in humiliation, loss, and destruction. His speech is confident, forceful, and highly structured, but it also reveals the growing problem at the center of the friends' reasoning: they continue to apply a general principle about wicked people directly to Job without proving that Job belongs in that category.
Zophar begins by explaining that he feels compelled to answer Job. He believes Job has challenged the wisdom of his friends, and therefore he must defend the traditional understanding that he considers established from ancient times. His argument is based on a simple principle: evil may prosper temporarily, but evil cannot prosper permanently.
From there, Zophar describes the apparent success of a wicked person. Such a person may become powerful, wealthy, proud, and influential, but the success is temporary. Zophar compares it to a dream that disappears when a person wakes. The wicked person's greatness may seem impressive for a while, but eventually it becomes impossible to find any trace of him.
The chapter repeatedly emphasizes the reversal of prosperity. Wealth will be taken away, children may be forced to return what was wrongly obtained, physical strength will disappear, and the person's reputation will vanish. Zophar's argument is that the wicked person cannot ultimately keep what was acquired through wrongdoing.
One of the strongest images in the chapter compares wicked pleasure to sweet food that turns into poison. Evil may initially feel attractive and satisfying, but its consequences eventually become destructive. Zophar develops this idea by describing swallowed wealth, snake venom, lost prosperity, and an appetite that can never be satisfied.
He also identifies a specific cause of the wicked person's downfall: the oppression of the poor. According to Zophar, the wicked person has taken advantage of vulnerable people and benefited from things he did not rightfully earn. His wealth therefore carries within it the seeds of his own destruction.
The second half of the chapter becomes increasingly dramatic. Zophar describes the wicked person as being surrounded by danger. When he escapes one weapon, another awaits him. When he believes he is safe, destruction suddenly arrives. Darkness covers his treasures, fire consumes his household, and heaven and earth become witnesses against him.
The historical imagery reflects an ancient world familiar with warfare, agriculture, wealth accumulation, household inheritance, poverty, trade, hunting, disease, and sudden destruction. Images of iron and bronze weapons, poisonous snakes, flowing streams, food, fire, and ruined households would have been immediately understandable to an ancient audience.
The chapter's final conclusion is that this destruction is the appointed portion of the wicked. Zophar believes he has demonstrated an unchanging law of divine justice.
However, the larger context of the book makes his argument problematic.
Zophar's description of the wicked person sounds remarkably similar to the accusations already made against Job. Job has lost his wealth, family, health, social position, and security. Zophar describes a person whose wealth disappears, whose household is destroyed, whose body suffers, and whose former prosperity is completely reversed.
The implication is difficult to miss: Zophar is effectively explaining Job's suffering as the fate of a wicked person.
But Job has consistently denied that explanation.
This creates an important tension. Zophar is correct that greed, oppression, pride, and injustice can have destructive consequences. His observations contain genuine wisdom. The problem is that he assumes the principle works mechanically in every individual case. If someone suffers greatly, Zophar assumes that person must have committed corresponding wrongdoing.
The book of Job is challenging precisely this assumption.
The central theme of Chapter 20 is the temporary nature of wicked prosperity and the eventual consequences of injustice, but the chapter also exposes the danger of applying that principle without understanding the full circumstances of another person's life.
Zophar believes he is defending God's justice, yet his certainty prevents him from listening to Job. Instead of asking whether his interpretation might be incomplete, he becomes increasingly confident that Job's suffering proves his guilt.
The chapter therefore deepens the conflict between Job and his friends. Zophar sees a simple moral pattern; Job's experience refuses to fit that pattern. This tension is essential to the book because it forces the reader to distinguish between believing that God is just and assuming that human beings can always identify the reason behind another person's suffering.
Job Chapter 20 ultimately shows that a true principle can still be misused when it is applied without wisdom, compassion, and knowledge of the particular situation.
Zophar begins by explaining that he feels compelled to answer Job. He believes Job has challenged the wisdom of his friends, and therefore he must defend the traditional understanding that he considers established from ancient times. His argument is based on a simple principle: evil may prosper temporarily, but evil cannot prosper permanently.
From there, Zophar describes the apparent success of a wicked person. Such a person may become powerful, wealthy, proud, and influential, but the success is temporary. Zophar compares it to a dream that disappears when a person wakes. The wicked person's greatness may seem impressive for a while, but eventually it becomes impossible to find any trace of him.
The chapter repeatedly emphasizes the reversal of prosperity. Wealth will be taken away, children may be forced to return what was wrongly obtained, physical strength will disappear, and the person's reputation will vanish. Zophar's argument is that the wicked person cannot ultimately keep what was acquired through wrongdoing.
One of the strongest images in the chapter compares wicked pleasure to sweet food that turns into poison. Evil may initially feel attractive and satisfying, but its consequences eventually become destructive. Zophar develops this idea by describing swallowed wealth, snake venom, lost prosperity, and an appetite that can never be satisfied.
He also identifies a specific cause of the wicked person's downfall: the oppression of the poor. According to Zophar, the wicked person has taken advantage of vulnerable people and benefited from things he did not rightfully earn. His wealth therefore carries within it the seeds of his own destruction.
The second half of the chapter becomes increasingly dramatic. Zophar describes the wicked person as being surrounded by danger. When he escapes one weapon, another awaits him. When he believes he is safe, destruction suddenly arrives. Darkness covers his treasures, fire consumes his household, and heaven and earth become witnesses against him.
The historical imagery reflects an ancient world familiar with warfare, agriculture, wealth accumulation, household inheritance, poverty, trade, hunting, disease, and sudden destruction. Images of iron and bronze weapons, poisonous snakes, flowing streams, food, fire, and ruined households would have been immediately understandable to an ancient audience.
The chapter's final conclusion is that this destruction is the appointed portion of the wicked. Zophar believes he has demonstrated an unchanging law of divine justice.
However, the larger context of the book makes his argument problematic.
Zophar's description of the wicked person sounds remarkably similar to the accusations already made against Job. Job has lost his wealth, family, health, social position, and security. Zophar describes a person whose wealth disappears, whose household is destroyed, whose body suffers, and whose former prosperity is completely reversed.
The implication is difficult to miss: Zophar is effectively explaining Job's suffering as the fate of a wicked person.
But Job has consistently denied that explanation.
This creates an important tension. Zophar is correct that greed, oppression, pride, and injustice can have destructive consequences. His observations contain genuine wisdom. The problem is that he assumes the principle works mechanically in every individual case. If someone suffers greatly, Zophar assumes that person must have committed corresponding wrongdoing.
The book of Job is challenging precisely this assumption.
The central theme of Chapter 20 is the temporary nature of wicked prosperity and the eventual consequences of injustice, but the chapter also exposes the danger of applying that principle without understanding the full circumstances of another person's life.
Zophar believes he is defending God's justice, yet his certainty prevents him from listening to Job. Instead of asking whether his interpretation might be incomplete, he becomes increasingly confident that Job's suffering proves his guilt.
The chapter therefore deepens the conflict between Job and his friends. Zophar sees a simple moral pattern; Job's experience refuses to fit that pattern. This tension is essential to the book because it forces the reader to distinguish between believing that God is just and assuming that human beings can always identify the reason behind another person's suffering.
Job Chapter 20 ultimately shows that a true principle can still be misused when it is applied without wisdom, compassion, and knowledge of the particular situation.