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Job 20
Stung and hasty, Zophar the Naamathite gives his second and final speech, ignoring Job's vision of the Redeemer entirely. His single theme: the triumph of the wicked is short, however high he climbs. The chapter is built on the image of food and digestion. Watch how wickedness is sweet in the mouth but turns to cobra venom in the belly, and how swallowed riches are vomited back up by God.
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Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
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“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
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I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
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Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
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that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
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Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
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yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
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He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
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The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
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His children will seek the favor of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
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His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
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“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
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though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,
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yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
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He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
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He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
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He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
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He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
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For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
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“Because he knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
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There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
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In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
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When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
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He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
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He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
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The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
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The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
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Então Zofar, o naamatita, respondeu:
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“Portanto, os meus pensamentos me respondem, por causa da pressa que há em mim.
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Ouvi a repreensão que me envergonha. O espírito do meu entendimento me responde.
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Você não sabe disso desde os tempos antigos, desde que o homem foi colocado na terra,
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que o triunfo dos ímpios é breve, e a alegria do profano dura apenas um momento?
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Embora a sua grandeza suba até os céus, e a sua cabeça alcance as nuvens,
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ainda assim ele perecerá para sempre como o seu próprio excremento. Aqueles que o viram dirão: ‘Onde ele está?’
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Ele voará como um sonho, e não será encontrado. Sim, ele será afugentado como uma visão da noite.
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O olho que o viu não o verá mais, nem o seu lugar o verá novamente.
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Seus filhos buscarão o favor dos pobres. Suas mãos devolverão a sua riqueza.
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Seus ossos estão cheios do vigor da sua juventude, mas a juventude se deitará com ele no pó.
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“Embora a maldade seja doce na sua boca, embora ele a esconda debaixo da sua língua,
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embora ele a poupe, e não a deixe ir, mas a retenha ainda em sua boca,
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contudo a sua comida se transforma em suas entranhas. É veneno de cobra dentro dele.
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Ele engoliu riquezas, e as vomitará de novo. Deus as expulsará do seu ventre.
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Ele sugará veneno de cobra. A língua da víbora o matará.
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Ele não olhará para os rios, para as correntes que fluem mel e manteiga.
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Ele devolverá aquilo pelo qual trabalhou, e não o engolirá. Ele não se alegrará de acordo com os bens que adquiriu.
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Pois ele oprimiu e desamparou os pobres. Ele tomou violentamente uma casa, e não a edificará.
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“Porque ele não conheceu tranquilidade em seu íntimo, ele não salvará nada daquilo em que se deleita.
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Não sobrou nada que ele não devorasse, portanto a sua prosperidade não durará.
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Na plenitude da sua fartura, a angústia o alcançará. A mão de todos os que estão na miséria virá sobre ele.
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Quando ele estiver prestes a encher o seu ventre, Deus lançará sobre ele o furor da sua ira. Ela choverá sobre ele enquanto estiver comendo.
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Ele fugirá da arma de ferro. A flecha de bronze o atravessará.
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Ele a arranca, e ela sai do seu corpo. Sim, a ponta reluzente sai do seu fígado. Terrores vêm sobre ele.
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Toda a escuridão está reservada para os seus tesouros. Um fogo não atiçado o devorará. Ele consumirá o que sobrar em sua tenda.
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Os céus revelarão a sua iniquidade. A terra se levantará contra ele.
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As riquezas da sua casa desaparecerão. Elas serão arrastadas no dia da sua ira.
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Esta é a porção do homem ímpio da parte de Deus, a herança que lhe foi designada por Deus.”
Justice that arrives mid-meal
Zophar's most vivid stroke comes at verse 23: just as the wicked man is about to fill his belly, God rains down wrath on him while he is still eating. The pleasures that seemed his prosperity become the very mechanism of his ruin.
He closes by naming this the wicked man's "portion" and "heritage" from God (verse 29), an inheritance of bronze arrows and unfanned fire. Like Bildad, Zophar describes catastrophe and lets Job feel the aim.
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