ESTUDIO DEL CAPÍTULO
Job 20 — Zophar's Vision of the Wicked Man's End
Zophar answers Job by insisting that the joy of the godless lasts only a moment, then traces the swift downfall of the wicked through bodily imagery of swallowed poison and lost wealth.
Escritura
- 1.Respondió Zofar naamatita, y dijo:Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
- 2.Por cierto mis pensamientos me hacen responder, Y por tanto me apresuro.Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.
- 3.La reprensión de mi censura he oído, Y me hace responder el espíritu de mi inteligencia.I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
- 4.¿No sabes esto, que así fue siempre, Desde el tiempo que fue puesto el hombre sobre la tierra,Knowest thou not this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,
- 5.Que la alegría de los malos es breve, Y el gozo del impío por un momento?That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- 6.Aunque subiere su altivez hasta el cielo, Y su cabeza tocare en las nubes,Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds;
- 7.Como su estiércol, perecerá para siempre; Los que le hubieren visto dirán: ¿Qué hay de él?Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?
- 8.Como sueño volará, y no será hallado, Y se disipará como visión nocturna.He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
- 9.El ojo que le veía, nunca más le verá, Ni su lugar le conocerá más.The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him.
- 10.Sus hijos solicitarán el favor de los pobres, Y sus manos devolverán lo que él robó.His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth.
- 11.Sus huesos están llenos de su juventud, Mas con él en el polvo yacerán.His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust.
- 12.Si el mal se endulzó en su boca, Si lo ocultaba debajo de su lengua,Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue,
- 13.Si le parecía bien, y no lo dejaba, Sino que lo detenía en su paladar;Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;
- 14.Su comida se mudará en sus entrañas; Hiel de áspides será dentro de él.Yet his food in his bowels is turned, It is the gall of asps within him.
- 15.Devoró riquezas, pero las vomitará; De su vientre las sacará Dios.He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.
- 16.Veneno de áspides chupará; Lo matará lengua de víbora.He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper's tongue shall slay him.
- 17.No verá los arroyos, los ríos, Los torrentes de miel y de leche.He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter.
- 18.Restituirá el trabajo conforme a los bienes que tomó, Y no los tragará ni gozará.That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
- 19.Por cuanto quebrantó y desamparó a los pobres, Robó casas, y no las edificó;For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
- 20.Por tanto, no tendrá sosiego en su vientre, Ni salvará nada de lo que codiciaba.Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
- 21.No quedó nada que no comiese; Por tanto, su bienestar no será duradero.There was nothing left that he devoured not; Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
- 22.En el colmo de su abundancia padecerá estrechez; La mano de todos los malvados vendrá sobre él.In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
- 23.Cuando se pusiere a llenar su vientre, Dios enviará sobre él el ardor de su ira, Y la hará llover sobre él y sobre su comida.When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, And will rain it upon him while he is eating.
- 24.Huirá de las armas de hierro, Y el arco de bronce le atravesará.He shall flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
- 25.La saeta le traspasará y saldrá de su cuerpo, Y la punta relumbrante saldrá por su hiel; Sobre él vendrán terrores.He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall: Terrors are upon him.
- 26.Todas las tinieblas están reservadas para sus tesoros; Fuego no atizado los consumirá; Devorará lo que quede en su tienda.All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown by man shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
- 27.Los cielos descubrirán su iniquidad, Y la tierra se levantará contra él.The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise up against him.
- 28.Los renuevos de su casa serán transportados; Serán esparcidos en el día de su furor.The increase of his house shall depart; His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
- 29.Esta es la porción que Dios prepara al hombre impío, Y la heredad que Dios le señala por su palabra.This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.
Qué significa este pasaje
Zophar organizes his speech around a single thesis: the wicked man's triumph is short and his end is certain. Verses 4–9 establish the premise as ancient and uncontroversial knowledge—since man was placed on earth, the wicked have never held their ground. Height, even pride that reaches the clouds, cannot outlast God's timetable. The lingering question of the chapter is whether this axiom applies to Job himself; Zophar clearly thinks it does.
The middle section (vv. 10–22) pursues the reversal through bodily metaphors. Wealth swallowed turns to poison (vv. 12–16); labor is vomited up rather than enjoyed (vv. 15, 18); houses built by oppression are stripped away (v. 19). The point is not merely that sin has consequences but that what the wicked treats as sweet in his mouth becomes bitter in his belly. Prosperity and terror coexist in the same body.
The closing section (vv. 23–29) turns to divine action. God rains fury on the evildoer even as he eats, an unblown fire consumes his tent, and heaven and earth unite as witnesses against him. The final verse seals the argument as doctrine: such ruin is the portion and heritage God appoints for the wicked.
Contexto
Job 20 is the second speech of Zophar the Naamathite, the third of Job's friends to respond. He opens with personal irritation—he has heard a rebuke that shames him, and the spirit of his understanding compels him to answer (vv. 1–3)—signaling that this speech, like Bildad's in chapter 18, is shaped by his need to defend the friends' position as much as to address Job. The chapter note identifies it as part of the backfilled content for Job outside the P0/P1 priority range.
Within the chapter itself, Zophar anchors his accusation in creation memory (v. 4, "since man was placed upon earth") and develops a chain of images—dung, dream, swallowed poison, vomited wealth, fire from heaven—that recur across the Old Testament as vocabulary for sudden divine judgment. The final two verses (vv. 28–29) turn the whole speech into a doctrinal formula: this ruin is the heritage God appoints for the wicked.
Palabras clave del original
- H6691 Zophar's name anchors the chapter's opening. As the speaker of Job 20, he identifies himself in verse 1 as the Naamathite, and the rest of the chapter delivers his second attempt to press the standard doctrine of sudden reversal upon Job.
- H4148 The term rendered "rebuke" in verse 3 carries the sense of discipline or correction. Zophar hears Job's words as corrective reproof directed at the friends' theology, and that framing is what triggers his counter-speech.
- H7307 Verse 3 speaks of the "spirit of my understanding" answering Zophar. The Hebrew term denotes breath or wind but here personifies the inner rational impulse that drives him to respond to what he has heard.
Versículos relacionados
- Job 27:13 Job himself later uses almost identical language: "This is the portion of a wicked man with God." The convergence between Job 20:29 and Job 27:13 shows that the formula of the wicked man's heritage belongs to the book's settled vocabulary, even if speakers disagree about who it describes.
- Proverbs 23:8 Zophar's image of swallowed riches vomited up (v. 15) and sweet words lost (v. 18) echoes Proverbs 23:8, where the morsel eaten is vomited out and the sweet words wasted. Both passages treat illicit gain as something the body refuses to keep.
- Psalms 73:20 Zophar compares the wicked man to a dream that flies away and is not found (v. 8). Psalm 73:20 uses the same figure: "As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image." Both treat the apparent stability of the wicked as something God dismisses the moment He arises.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does Zophar begin with personal irritation (vv. 1–3) instead of addressing Job directly?
Zophar hears Job's previous words as a rebuke that shames the friends' position, so he frames this speech as a defense of their shared doctrine of sudden retribution before he can apply it to Job.
What does Zophar mean by saying the triumph of the wicked is "short" (v. 5)?
He means that however high the wicked rise—even to the heavens—their joy does not outlast God's appointed moment, so that whatever they possess is essentially on loan and will be stripped from them.
Are verses 28–29 a doctrinal summary or a curse against Job?
The text presents them as Zophar's doctrinal formula for the portion of the wicked. The application to Job is implied by Zophar's preceding argument, but the verses themselves function as a generalized statement about God's appointed heritage for evildoers.