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Job 20

Zophar portrays the wicked person’s prosperity collapsing under God’s judgment, bringing a harsh accusation into his dispute with Job.

Zophar the Naamathite answers Job after hearing a rebuke that has left him ashamed and eager to respond. He argues that the wicked person’s triumph soon ends, describing wealth swallowed and vomited up, food turned to venom, and a household swept away under God’s wrath. Oppression of the poor stands among the offenses he names. This is Zophar’s speech within the dispute; the chapter supplies no evidence that Job has committed the crimes Zophar describes.

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1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
7yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
10His children will seek the favor of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
11His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
12“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
13though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,
14yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
15He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
16He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
17He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18He 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.
19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
21There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
23When 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.
24He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
25He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
27The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
28The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Job 20:5This verse states Zophar’s central claim: the wicked person’s joy is brief, however high that person rises.
Job 20:17Streams of honey and butter picture abundance that Zophar says the wicked person will never enjoy.
Job 20:19Zophar names oppression of the poor and seizure of a house as grounds for the judgment he describes.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm and Proverbs share Job 20’s themes of fleeting wicked prosperity, lost wealth, and judgment on those who oppress the poor. Isaiah and Jeremiah also link exploitation with divine judgment, while Deuteronomy shares its imagery of abundance and the loss of a household’s goods under judgment.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does Zophar’s admission of haste shape your reading of the speech that follows?

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Where might Zophar’s speech help you name injustice, and where might it encourage assumptions about someone’s suffering?

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Questions people ask about Job 20

Who is speaking in Job 20?

Zophar the Naamathite speaks throughout Job 20. He begins by saying that a rebuke has shamed him and that his thoughts demand an answer. Addressing Job, he presents the downfall of the wicked as an ancient truth, ending with a claim that God appoints their ruin.

Does Job 20 say Job oppressed the poor?

Verse 19 describes a wicked person who oppresses the poor and seizes a house. Zophar’s speech carries an accusation in his dispute with Job, but he does not name Job in that verse or offer evidence against him. His description must be read as a speaker’s argument within the debate.

What do honey and butter mean in Job 20:17?

The flowing streams of honey and butter picture rich provision and abundance. Zophar says the wicked person will be denied that enjoyment. The image belongs to a wider pattern of eating and drinking in the speech: riches are swallowed, food becomes venom, and satisfaction gives way to distress.

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What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).