“This is the portion of the wicked with God.
This is the heritage
Those oppressors receive from the Almighty, Shaddai.
If their children are multiplied,
It is for the sword.
Their offspring have not enough to eat.
Those who survive
The pestilence buries.
Their widows make no lamentation.
Although they heap up silver like dust,
Although they pile up clothing like clay,
They may pile it up.
However, the just will wear it.
The innocent will divide the silver.
They build their houses
Like nests,
Like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
They go to bed with wealth.
But they will do so no more.
They open their eyes.
Their wealth is gone.
Terrors overtake them like a flood.
In the night,
A whirlwind carries them off.
The east wind lifts them up.
They are gone.
It sweeps them out of their place.
It hurls at them without pity.
They flee from its power in headlong flight.
It claps its hands at them.
It hisses at them from its place.”
This section is either from Job or Zophar. However, it fits more with Zophar’s beliefs about the wicked that that of Job. He believed that the wicked would be cursed in this life or in their descendant’s lifetime. Thus this probably is the curse of Zophar, one of Job’s friends, about the fate of the wicked. This seems to explain what is going to happen to the wicked ones. If they have many children, they would die by the sword. Their children would not have food to eat and so probably die of pestilence. Their widows would not grieve for them. Their silver and clothing would disappear. Their houses would be as fragile bird’s nests and flimsy vineyard tents. They would go to bed wealthy and wake up broke. Terrors would come upon them like a whirlwind and sweep them out of their homes. They would flee the wind itself. This paints a bleak picture of the future for the wicked ones.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 