The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Job
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Chapter 20
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Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:
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Strange hesitation thy words breed in me; my thoughts veer to and fro.
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Not deaf am I to thy pleadings, but there is a voice in my heart gives me pause.
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Certain it is that never since man found a place on earth
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did the wrong-doer win lasting triumph; only for a brief moment does knavery bring him content.
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Let his pride overtop heaven itself, his head be lifted high as the clouds,
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he is for the dung-hill at last; none knows what has become of him.
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Vanished and gone like a dream, the phantom of yesternight,
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unmarked by human eyes, lost to the scenes he knew!
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Crushing poverty shall be his children’s lot; his acts shall yield their own harvest of shame,
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all the lusty vigour of his frame doomed, like himself, to silence and the dust.
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Sweet in the mouth is the taste of evil-doing; how the tongue cherishes it!
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How he treasures it, loth to lose the secret pleasure of his palate!
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But once let that food reach his belly, not the gall of adders is so venomous.
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The wealth he loved to swallow, disgorge he must; God will make his belly return it;
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poisonous as the asp’s head or the viper’s tongue were those juices he sucked,
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when he thought to enjoy streams of plenty; honey and cream should have been his in rich abundance.
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Endlessly he shall pay for the wrong he did, plagued in the measure of his own false dealings.
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He who oppressed and robbed the poor shall never prosper with his ill-gotten fortunes;
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he, the insatiable, will not keep what he so coveted;
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he, that never had a crust to spare, will be stripped now of all his goods.
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Once so full fed, now he goes in need; stands in doubt, with distress crowding in on every side;
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ah for a meal to fill his belly with! But no, God’s angry vengeance is let loose on him, raining down all its weapons;
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shuns he the steel, to the bow of bronze he falls a prey.
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Bright and bitter the drawn sword threatens; about him, dread warriors come and go.✻
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He hides away, where thick darkness broods over him;✻ straightway a fire no human hand has kindled threatens to devour him; woe betide any that would take refuge in that dwelling!
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Heaven will reveal the story of his crimes, earth itself rise in revolt against him;
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all the promise of his race will be laid bare and torn away, in that hour of the Lord’s vengeance.✻
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Such is the lot God sends to the wicked, such their divinely appointed doom.
