Like Eliphaz and Bildad before him, Zophar defends divine justice by asserting that the wicked perish before their time. Whereas Job (chapters 7, 16–17) had complained of a living death, of the brevity of his happy life, and of the finality of the grave, Zophar insists that it is the wicked who disappear prematurely, leaving open the implication that Job might be counted as wicked. Zophar elaborates the metaphor by which the wicked “consume” ill-gotten gain, which acts like a poison, causing them to “disgorge” it. Accordingly, the apparent success of the wicked is ephemeral.
[20:1] Up spoke Zophar the Na’amathite and he said:
[2–3] It is my brooding that makes me respond—
By dint of the feelings within me.
I hear (your) lecture of refutation,
And the spirit by which I understand prompts me to speak:
[4–5] Do you not know this from forever,
Since the human was put on earth,
That the joy of the wicked is short-lived,
That the pleasure of the impudent is of the moment?
[6–7] Though his1 summit go up to the sky,
And his head reach up to the clouds,
He will disappear like his dung for all time;
Those who’ve seen him2 will say: “Where is he?”
[8–9] He’ll fly off like a dream that no one can find;
He’ll be banished like a vision of the night.3
The eye that beheld him will do so no more;
His locale will see him no longer.4
[10] His children will be crushed by poverty,5
As his hands give back his wealth.6
[11] His bones may be full of youthful-vigor,
But they lie down with him (dead) in the dust.
[12–14] Though evil taste sweet in his mouth,
(Though) he hide it under his tongue;
(Though) he savor7 and not let it go,
And restrain it within his palate,
His food8 will turn over in his bowels—
Serpents’ venom within him.
[15] He may swallow wealth, but he will disgorge it;
El will dispossess him of it from his belly.9
[16] He suckles the poison of serpents,
The tongue of the viper will slay him.10
[17] He must never see rivulets of oil,11
Or streams12 of honey and cream.
[18–19] He must restore (his) profit without swallowing it,
The amount he received without enjoying it.
For he has crushed the property13 of the poor;14
Has stolen a house rather than build one.
[20–21] Because his belly will know no peace,15
He will not save (himself) with what he holds dear.16
(He has) no survivor to consume it;
Therefore his bounty will not last.17
[22] Though his satisfaction is complete, he’s distressed;
Any sufferer’s hand can overcome him.18
[23] On the one who fills his belly,
May he unleash his burning wrath!
And on him rain down his warfare!19
[24–25] If he escapes from a weapon of iron,20
A bow of bronze will pierce him through.21
He22 draws out (a sword) and it runs through the body;
The blade23 goes right through his innards;24
He is stricken with fright.
[26] Darkness is in store for his protected ones;25
A fire unfanned26 will consume them;27
Any survivor in his tent will meet disaster.28
[27] The heavens will reveal his crime;
And the earth will rise against him.
[28] A torrent29 will sweep away30 his house—
Inundation on the day of his31 anger.
[29] This is the wicked man’s portion from Elohim,
The allotment that El has declared for him.
1. The impudent’s.
2. There is a pun on a biblical term for “excrement”—ro’i (Nahum 3:6; Zalcman).
3. An echo of Job 4:13.
4. Echoes of Job 7:8, 10, 21.
5. More literally, “Poverty will crush (reading yarotsu) his sons” (compare the Latin and Syriac translations).
6. There is a pun: the term for “wealth” (’on) can also designate one’s “strength,” one’s progeny.
7. “Savor” (yaḥmol) echoes “like a dream” (kaḥalom) in verse 8.
8. “Food,” more often “bread” (leḥem), puns on “savors” (yaḥmol) in verse 13 and on “wealth” (ḥayil) in verse 15 and below.
9. The metaphor of consuming wealth mixes the literal (wealth, dispossess) and the figurative (swallow, disgorge).
10. As though the venom is ejected by the tongue, not the teeth.
11. Reading yitshar “fresh oil” for naharei “rivers of.” For the phrase “streams of oil,” see Micah 6:7 and Job’s echo of the phrase in 29:6. These delectable liquids contrast with the poisonous ones.
12. “Streams” (naḥalei) puns on “wealth” (ḥayil) in verses 15, 18, 21.
13. Vocalizing ‘azab as a noun; compare ‘izzabon “wares” (Ezekiel 27:12, 27, 33).
14. Note the twist on verse 10 above.
15. Reading shelew (a noun) for shalew (a predicate); see Psalm 30:7.
16. Compare Psalm 39:12 (so for example Rashi).
17. For this sense of the verb yaḥil, see Psalm 10:5; there is a play on ḥayil “wealth.”
18. Compare Eliphaz in 15:21.
19. Compare Psalm 11:6, where the deity “rains down” fire and sulfur on the wicked. “Warfare” (laḥum) puns ironically on “food” (leḥem) and “wealth” (ḥayil).
20. Such as a sword.
21. For ḥalap “be pierced,” see Judges 5:26. The rare verb form suggests a double meaning: a bow “will take the place” (the more common meaning of ḥalap) of an unsuccessful sword.
22. God or an indefinite subject—as though to say, “A sword is drawn …”
23. An ellipsis of “the lightning blade (of a sword)”; see Deuteronomy 32:41.
24. Literally, “comes out from his gall.”
25. Apparently his family; see Psalm 83:4.
26. A supernatural fire, like the one that annihilated Job’s flocks and servants (1:16).
27. Literally, “him” (in Job singular and plural are not always distinguished).
28. Reading yeira‘ as a passive (Niph‘al; so D. Kimhi).
29. Reading yubal for yebul “crop”; see Jeremiah 17:8.
30. Reading yiggal (Niph‘al of gll) for yigel “go into exile”; see Amos 5:24 (said of water).
31. The deity’s.