The big picture
Zophar, one of Job’s friends, feels rebuked and answers in haste. Job has asked for pity and warned the friends about judgement. Zophar replies with another account of the wicked person’s brief success and certain fall. He describes stolen wealth turning bitter, hunger returning, and destruction reaching the household. His speech claims to explain God’s appointed outcome. It does not supply evidence that Job has committed the wrongs he names.
In this chapter
- Zophar Says Success Will Vanish Job 20:1-11
Zophar says his troubled thoughts and the rebuke he heard compel him to answer.
- Stolen Wealth Turns Bitter Job 20:12-19
Zophar compares evil to a sweet taste kept under the tongue.
- Plenty Gives No Lasting Safety Job 20:20-23
The wicked man in Zophar’s speech cannot find peace inside his own abundance.
- Zophar Leaves No Escape Job 20:24-29
Zophar pictures a man fleeing one weapon only to be struck by another.
Central truth
Zophar claims that wicked success must end swiftly in ruin, using that certainty to answer Job’s plea for pity.
Scripture beside the summary
Job · King James Version · 29Job 20:1-11
Zophar Says Success Will Vanish
Zophar says his troubled thoughts and the rebuke he heard compel him to answer. He appeals to an old rule: the wicked person’s triumph is brief. Even if that person rises as high as the sky, he will vanish like waste or a forgotten dream. His place will no longer see him. His children will have to deal with the poor, and stolen goods will be returned. Zophar carries the man’s youthful wrong into the grave with him. The speech begins from offence taken and moves quickly to a sweeping claim.
In everyday life
A racing steward hears a dismissed trainer challenge his judgement and answers at once. He points to an old cheating scandal as proof that every winning cheat soon collapses. The trainer’s actual records remain unopened on the bench. An example has become a rule applied without checking. Zophar’s claim covers God’s treatment of the wicked throughout life.
Notice
Job 20:3 Zophar names the rebuke he feels before explaining his view. His reply comes from wounded pride as well as the understanding he claims to possess.
Job 20:1-11
King James Version1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
4Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
7Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
10His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12-19
Stolen Wealth Turns Bitter
Zophar compares evil to a sweet taste kept under the tongue. Once swallowed, it becomes deadly poison. Wealth taken in becomes wealth forced back out by God. The wicked person will miss the rich streams of honey and butter he hoped to enjoy. He must return what he gained and cannot rejoice in it. Zophar names the reason as abuse of poor people and seizure of a house he did not build. These concrete wrongs matter, but he has not shown that Job is guilty of them.
In everyday life
A dishonest jeweller admires a bracelet bought with money taken from a client’s repair deposit. A demand for repayment arrives before he puts it on display. He sets the bracelet beside the claim and begins counting what he must sell. The gain has become a burden. This documented theft gives evidence that Zophar has not supplied about Job.
Notice
Job 20:19 Zophar names oppression of poor people and seizure of a home. His account of guilt is specific, yet its application to Job remains unsupported.
Job 20:12-19
King James Version12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
14Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
19Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
Job 20:20-23
Plenty Gives No Lasting Safety
The wicked man in Zophar’s speech cannot find peace inside his own abundance. He keeps wanting more but cannot preserve what he desires. Nothing remains for him to enjoy. At the point of greatest plenty, pressure closes around him from every side. Zophar pictures God’s anger arriving while the man is about to eat. The meal that should mark security becomes the moment of danger. His claim is that wealth cannot shelter evil, but he presents the timing of that downfall as though no difficult cases remain.
In everyday life
A corrupt caterer sits before a paid-for feast while repayment notices cover the sideboard. He keeps checking the door instead of eating. The stock he gathered through false bills now stands ready to be seized. Plenty in the room gives him no rest. Zophar says God brings the crisis, which these notices cannot prove.
Notice
Job 20:22 The crisis arrives at the height of plenty in Zophar’s picture. He rejects wealth as protection, while still assuming he can predict how judgement appears.
Job 20:20-23
King James Version20Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
21There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
23When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
Job 20:24-29
Zophar Leaves No Escape
Zophar pictures a man fleeing one weapon only to be struck by another. Terror follows, and fire consumes what remains in his dwelling. Heaven exposes his wrongdoing, while earth rises against him. His household wealth flows away when anger comes. Zophar calls this the wicked person’s allotted share from God. The speech ends with a firm verdict rather than a question. It leaves Job facing another total account of ruin, still without an answer to his demand that the friends prove their accusations.
In everyday life
A safety officer reads a chain of failures after a chemical storage fire. One broken safeguard led to another until the losses spread through the site. She sets the report beside the evidence before naming responsibility. A complete account of disaster still needs proof about its cause. Zophar claims God’s verdict without that kind of test of Job’s case.
Notice
Job 20:29 The final line presents Zophar’s description as God’s assigned portion. His certainty should not be confused with God personally declaring Job guilty.
Job 20:24-29
King James Version24He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
25It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
26All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
27The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
28The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Job 20:1 begins with “Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,”
Where the chapter turns
Job 20:7 forms a natural hinge: “Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?”
The final note
Job 20:29 leaves the reader with “This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words belly, goods, wicked, answer, asps, cometh help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- behold
- look, or pay close attention
- unto
- to
- thou
- you
- hath
- has
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
