Chapter 20
| Collection: | The Book of Job and 42 Paintings |
| Author: | Fr. Antonio Oteiza |
| Type: | Painting |
| Location: | Cataloguing Room |
| Characteristics: | Acrylic paint on cardboard |
| Artwork: |
Click to enlarge |
| Description: |
Zophar of Naamah then spoke and said: “My agitation urges me to answer, for I feel deeply troubled. I have heard a humiliating rebuke, and a breath of understanding within me compels me to reply. Do you not know that it has always been so, ever since man was placed upon the earth, that the triumph of the wicked is short-lived and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment? Though his ambition rises to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish for ever like dung, and those who once saw him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ He passes away like a dream and cannot be found; he vanishes like a vision of the night. The eyes that saw him will never see him again, and his place will behold him no more. His children beg like the poor, for he has had to give back his wealth. His limbs, still filled with youthful vigour, lie down with him in the dust. If wickedness tasted sweet to him and he hid it beneath his tongue, carefully keeping it there, refusing to let it go and holding it against his palate, that delicacy turns within his bowels into the venom of a viper. He swallowed riches, but he will vomit them up, for God will drive them out of his belly. He will suck the venom of vipers, and the tongue of the asp will kill him. He will not delight in seeing streams of oil, torrents of milk and honey. He returns the fruit of his labour without enjoying it, and he takes no pleasure in what he gained through trade. For he oppressed and abandoned the poor and seized houses he had not built. Because he never knew how to restrain his greed, he will save nothing of his treasures. No one escaped his voracity; therefore his prosperity will not endure. From abundance he will fall into poverty, and the hands of the afflicted will rise against him. To fill his belly, God will send upon him the burning heat of his anger, raining it down so that it penetrates his flesh. If he escapes the weapon of iron, the bronze arrow will pierce him. Its shaft comes out through his back, and the gleaming point emerges from his liver. Terror descends upon him; utter darkness is reserved for him. A fire kindled by no human hand devours him and consumes what remains of his tent. The heavens reveal his guilt, and the earth rises up against him. A flood sweeps away his house, torrents on the day of wrath. Such is the fate God reserves for the wicked, the inheritance God has appointed for him.” |
