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20:1  Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
20:2  “My ·troubled thoughts [distress; worries] cause me to ·answer [respond], because ·I am very upset [L of the agitation within me].
20:3  You ·correct [instruct] me and I am ·insulted [shamed], but ·I understand how to answer you [or a spirit beyond my understanding gives me an answer].
20:4  “·You [L Do you not…?] know how it has been ·for a long time [since time immemorial], ever since ·people were first put [or he put people] on the earth.
20:5  The ·happiness [luxuriance; enjoyment] of evil people is brief, and the joy of the ·wicked [L godless] lasts only a moment.
20:6  ·Their pride may be [L They may go] as high as the heavens, and their heads may touch the clouds,
20:7  but they will ·be gone [perish] forever, like their own dung. People who ·knew [L saw] them will say, ‘Where are they?’
20:8  They will fly away like a dream and not be found again; they will be ·chased away [put to flight] like a vision in the night.
20:9  ·Those who [L The eye that] saw them will not see them again; the places where they lived will see them no more.
20:10  Their children will ·have to pay back [or run after] the poor, and ·they will have to give up [L their hand will return] their wealth.
20:11  They had the strength of their youth in their bones, but it will lie with them in the dust of death.
20:12  “Evil may taste sweet in their mouths, and they may hide it under their tongues.
20:13  They ·cannot stand to [L fight/linger over it and do not] let go of it; they ·keep it in their mouths [L hide it under their tongues].
20:14  But their food ·will turn sour [L turns over] in their stomachs, like the poison of a ·snake [asp] inside them.
20:15  They have swallowed riches, but they will ·spit [vomit] them out; God will make them ·vomit [disgorge] ·their riches up [L it from their bellies; Prov. 11:4; 21:6].
20:16  They will suck the poison of ·snakes [asps], and the ·snake’s fangs [L viper’s tongue] will kill them.
20:17  They will not ·admire [L look at] ·the sparkling streams [or streams of oil] or the rivers flowing with honey and ·cream [or butter; or curds].
20:18  They must give back ·what they worked for [their gains] ·without eating it [unswallowed]; they will not enjoy the ·money they made from their trading [or benefit of their reward],
20:19  because they ·troubled the poor and left them with nothing [L crushed and abandoned the poor]. They have ·taken [stolen] houses they did not build [Prov. 28:27; 29:7].
20:20  “Evil people never ·lack an appetite [L experience ease/comfort in their bellies], and nothing ·escapes their selfishness [L they covet escapes them].
20:21  But nothing will be left ·for them to eat [or after they eat]; their riches will not continue.
20:22  When they still have plenty, ·trouble will catch up to them [L they will have distress], and ·great misery [L all the force/hand of trouble] will come down on them.
20:23  When the wicked fill their stomachs, God will send his burning anger against them, ·and blows of punishment will fall on them like rain [or raining it on them like their food].
20:24  The wicked may run away from an iron weapon, but a bronze ·arrow [L bow] will ·stab [pierce] them.
20:25  They will pull the arrows out of their backs and pull the points out of their ·livers [L gall bladders]. ·Terrors [Dread] will come over them;
20:26  total darkness ·waits for their treasure [or is stored up for them]. A fire not fanned by people [C perhaps lightning] will ·destroy [L consume] them and ·burn up [L horrible things will happen to] ·what is left of [or the survivors in] their tents.
20:27  The heavens will ·show [reveal] their guilt, and the earth will rise up against them.
20:28  ·A flood will carry their houses away [or The possessions of their house will be taken away], ·swept away [L like the torrents] on the day of God’s anger.
20:29  This is ·what God plans for evil [L the lot/fate of guilty] people; ·this is what he has decided they will receive [L the inheritance decreed by God].”