Job 20

1Entonces Sofar naamatita tomó la palabra y dijo:

2“Por eso mis pensamientos me sugieren una respuesta, y a eso me mueve mi interior.

3He oído la reprensión con que me insultas, mas el espíritu que tengo me impulsa a responder según mi saber.

4¿No sabes tú, que desde siempre, desde que hay hombre sobre la tierra,

5el gozo de los malos es breve, y la alegría del impío un instante?

6Aunque su arrogancia alcance hasta el cielo, y su cabeza toque las nubes,

7como su estiércol, para siempre perecerá; los que le vieron, dirán: «¿Dónde está?»

8Como un sueño volará, y no lo hallarán; desaparecerá cual visión nocturna.

9El ojo que le vio no le verá más, no verá otra vez su lugar.

10Sus hijos andarán pidiendo el favor de los pobres, y sus manos restituirán su riqueza.

11Sus huesos llenos aún de juvenil vigor, yacerán con él en el polvo.

12Por dulce que sea el mal en su boca, y por más que lo oculte bajo su lengua,

13si lo saborea y no lo suelta, si lo retiene en su paladar,

14su manjar se convierte en sus entrañas, hiel de áspid se volverá en su interior.

15Se tragó riquezas, pero las vomitará; Dios se las arrancará de su vientre.

16Chupará veneno de áspides, y la lengua de la víbora le matará.

17Jamás verá los arroyos, los ríos, los torrentes de miel y de leche.

18Devolverá lo que ganó, y no se lo tragará; será como riqueza prestada, en que no se puede gozar.

19Por cuanto oprimió y desamparó al pobre, robó casas que no había edificado,

20y no se hartó su vientre, por eso no salvará nada de lo que tanto le gusta.

21Nada escapaba a su voracidad, por eso no durará su prosperidad.

22En medio de toda su abundancia le sobrevendrá la estrechez; toda clase de penas le alcanzará.

23Cuando se pone a llenarse el vientre, y hará llover sobre él su castigo.

24Si huye de las armas de hierro, le traspasará el arco de bronce.

25Se saca (la flecha), y sale de su cuerpo, se la arranca de su hiel cual hierro resplandeciente, y vienen sobre él los terrores;

26una noche oscura traga sus tesoros, le consumirá fuego no encendido (por hombre); devorará cuanto quedare en su tienda.

27El cielo descubrirá su iniquidad, y la tierra se levantará contra él.

28La riqueza de su casa desaparecerá, será desparramada en el día de Su ira.

29Tal es la suerte que Dios al impío tiene reservada, y la herencia que Dios le ha asignado.”

1Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit:

2[Idcirco cogitationes meæ variæ succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur.

3Doctrinam qua me arguis audiam, et spiritus intelligentiæ meæ respondebit mihi.

4Hoc scio a principio, ex quo positus est homo super terram,

5quod laus impiorum brevis sit, et gaudium hypocritæ ad instar puncti.

6Si ascenderit usque ad cælum superbia ejus, et caput ejus nubes tetigerit,

7quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur, et qui eum viderant, dicent: Ubi est?

8Velut somnium avolans non invenietur: transiet sicut visio nocturna.

9Oculus qui eum viderat non videbit, neque ultra intuebitur eum locus suus.

10Filii ejus atterentur egestate, et manus illius reddent ei dolorem suum.

11Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiæ ejus, et cum eo in pulvere dormient.

12Cum enim dulce fuerit in ore ejus malum, abscondet illud sub lingua sua.

13Parcet illi, et non derelinquet illud, et celabit in gutture suo.

14Panis ejus in utero illius vertetur in fel aspidum intrinsecus.

15Divitias quas devoravit evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus.

16Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperæ.

17(Non videat rivulos fluminis, torrentes mellis et butyri.)

18Luet quæ fecit omnia, nec tamen consumetur: juxta multitudinem adinventionum suarum, sic et sustinebit.

19Quoniam confringens nudavit pauperes: domum rapuit, et non ædificavit eam.

20Nec est satiatus venter ejus: et cum habuerit quæ concupierat, possidere non poterit.

21Non remansit de cibo ejus, et propterea nihil permanebit de bonis ejus.

22Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur: æstuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum.

23Utinam impleatur venter ejus, ut emittat in eum iram furoris sui, et pluat super illum bellum suum.

24Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum æreum.

25Eductus, et egrediens de vagina sua, et fulgurans in amaritudine sua: vadent et venient super eum horribiles.

26Omnes tenebræ absconditæ sunt in occultis ejus; devorabit eum ignis qui non succenditur: affligetur relictus in tabernaculo suo.

27Revelabunt cæli iniquitatem ejus, et terra consurget adversus eum.

28Apertum erit germen domus illius: detrahetur in die furoris Dei.

29Hæc est pars hominis impii a Deo, et hæreditas verborum ejus a Domino.]

1Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

2Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

3The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

4This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

5That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

6If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

7In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?

8As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

9The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

10His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.

11His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

12For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

13He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

14His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.

15The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

16He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

17(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

18He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

19Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

20And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

21There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

22When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

23May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

24He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

25The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.

26All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

28The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.