HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 834
JOB 20
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“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for the hand of God has struck me.
Must you also persecute me, like God does?
Haven’t you chewed me up enough?
“Oh, that my words could be recorded.
Oh, that they could be inscribed on a
monument,
carved with an iron chisel and filled
with lead,
engraved forever in the rock.
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer
lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!*
I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!
“How dare you go on persecuting me,
saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?
You should fear punishment yourselves,
for your attitude deserves punishment.
Then you will know that there is indeed
a judgment.”
Zophar’s Second Response to Job
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
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“I must reply
because I am greatly disturbed.
I’ve had to endure your insults,
but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
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“Don’t you realize that from the beginning
of time,
ever since people were first placed on
the earth,
the triumph of the wicked has been short
lived
and the joy of the godless has been only
temporary?
Though the pride of the godless reaches to
the heavens
and their heads touch the clouds,
yet they will vanish forever,
thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
‘Where are they?’
They will fade like a dream and not be
found.
They will vanish like a vision in the
night.
Those who once saw them will see them
no more.
Their families will never see them again.
Their children will beg from the poor,
for they must give back their stolen
riches.
Though they are young,
their bones will lie in the dust.
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“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
letting it melt under their tongue.
They savored it,
holding it long in their mouths.
But suddenly the food in their bellies
turns sour,
a poisonous venom in their stomach.
They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
God won’t let them keep it down.
They will suck the poison of cobras.
The viper will kill them.
They will never again enjoy streams of
olive oil
or rivers of milk and honey.
They will give back everything they
worked for.
Their wealth will bring them no joy.
For they oppressed the poor and left them
destitute.
They foreclosed on their homes.
They were always greedy and never
satisfied.
Nothing remains of all the things they
dreamed about.
Nothing is left after they finish gorging
themselves.
Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.
“In the midst of plenty, they will run into
trouble
and be overcome by misery.
May God give them a bellyful of trouble.
May God rain down his anger upon them.
When they try to escape an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
The arrow is pulled from their back,
and the arrowhead glistens with blood.*
The terrors of death are upon them.
Their treasures will be thrown into
deepest darkness.
A wildfire will devour their goods,
consuming all they have left.
The heavens will reveal their guilt,
and the earth will testify against them.
A flood will sweep away their house.
God’s anger will descend on them in
torrents.
This is the reward that God gives the
wicked.
It is the inheritance decreed by God.”
Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response
to Zophar
Then Job spoke again:
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2 “Listen closely to what I am saying.
That’s one consolation you can give me.
Bear with me, and let me speak.
After I have spoken, you may resume
mocking me.
19:26 Or without my body I will see God. The meaning of the
Hebrew is uncertain. 20:25 Hebrew with gall.