Job 20

EasyEnglish Bible

² ‘I am very upset by the things that you have said.
    So I must say more to answer you.
³ You have said things that insult me.
    But now I know how to reply to you.
⁴ I am sure that you know this fact.
It has been true from long ago,
    since people first lived on the earth.
⁵ You know that a wicked person is only happy for a short time.
    His joy continues only for a moment.
⁶ He may think that he is more important than other people.
    He may be proud of the honour that he receives.
⁷ But he will disappear for ever,
    like dung that people throw away.
His friends will ask, “Where is he?”
⁸ He will disappear like a dream that quickly goes away.
    Nobody can find him any more.
⁹ People who knew him will never see him again.
    His family will no longer recognize him.
¹⁰ His children will have to give things back to poor people.
    Those are the valuable things that he took from them.
¹¹ He still had the strength of a young man.
    But his strength will die with him when he lies in his grave.

¹² He enjoys the wicked things that he does.
    They are like something sweet in his mouth.
¹³ He continues to enjoy wicked things,
    like the taste of sweet food that he keeps in his mouth.
¹⁴ But those things will become poison that hurts him.
    Like bitter food that goes into his stomach.
¹⁵ Like a person who is sick and loses the food from his stomach,
    God will cause the wicked person to lose all his riches.
¹⁶ He will drink the poison of snakes.
    A dangerous snake will bite him and it will kill him.
¹⁷ He will never enjoy the good things that the earth provides.
    He will not enjoy the honey and milk which pours out like rivers of water.
¹⁸ He will have to give back everything that he owned.
    He will not enjoy the things that he has worked for.
¹⁹ This will happen because he has been cruel to poor people.
    He has refused to help them.
He has taken houses for himself that do not belong to him.
²⁰ He will always want to have more things for himself.
    He takes anything that he wants to have.

²¹ Now nothing remains for him to take.
    So his riches will come to an end.
²² When he has everything that he wants,
    trouble suddenly comes to him.
²³ When he is filling himself with good food,
    God will punish him.
God will be very angry with him.
    God will attack the wicked person so that he suffers.
²⁴ He may escape from a soldier who has an iron sword.
    But then a soldier will shoot a bronze arrow into him.
²⁵ He pulls the arrow out of his back.
    His blood makes its sharp point shine brightly.
    He is very afraid.
²⁶ All his riches disappear in the dark.
    God will send a fire to destroy him.
    It will destroy all his things that remain.
²⁷ The heavens will show that he is guilty.
    People on earth will speak against him.
²⁸ A flood will destroy his house
    and everything that he has.
That will happen on the day when God punishes people
    because he is angry with them.
²⁹ That is how God punishes wicked people.
    God has decided to punish them as they deserve.’