Job 20 explained: Zophar Warns About the Wicked

Zophar feels insulted (vv. 1-3)

Zophar is upset because Job has just warned the friends that they themselves might face judgment for how they are treating him. He ignores Job's pleas for pity and answers the rebuke instead, saying his own good sense pushes him to reply.

The wicked vanish fast (vv. 4-11)

Zophar claims everyone has always known that a bad person's success is short, and that even someone towering over others will disappear like a dream or like dung thrown away. The Hebrew of verse 10 is unclear: it may mean his children must repay the poor he robbed, or that they end up begging from them.

Evil like sweet poison (vv. 12-19)

Zophar pictures wrongdoing as a treat a person keeps rolling around in his mouth, which then turns to snake venom in his stomach. The wealth he gained by crushing the poor and taking their homes will be vomited back up, and he will never enjoy the good life, pictured as streams overflowing with honey.

No escape from judgment (vv. 20-29)

Zophar describes God's anger raining down on the greedy man just as he fills his belly: arrows strike him, fire no human lit burns his tent, and heaven and earth testify against him. Many readers notice that the fire and the lost household echo Job's own disasters in chapter 1, so Zophar seems to be aiming at Job without naming him.

Key verse: Job 20:5

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Zophar's speech is sound general wisdom that he cruelly misapplies to Job, or a view the book largely rejects, since God later says the friends did not speak rightly (Job 42:7).

Something to think about

When someone's life suddenly falls apart, why might people be so quick to assume they must have done something to deserve it?