- 1
- And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
- 2
- Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me.
- 3
- I hear a reproof putting me to shame;
and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding.
- 4
- Knowest thou [not] this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,
- 5
- The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment?
- 6
- Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds,
- 7
- Like his own dung doth he perish for ever;
they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
- 8
- He flieth away as a dream, and is not found;
and is chased away as a vision of the night.
- 9
- The eye which saw him shall [see him] not again;
and his place beholdeth him no more.
- 10
- His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.
- 11
- His bones were full of his youthful strength;
but it shall lie down with him in the dust.
- 12
- Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth [and] he hide it under his tongue,
- 13
- [Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth,
- 14
- His food is turned in his bowels;
it is the gall of asps within him.
- 15
- He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
- 16
- He shall suck the poison of asps;
the viper's tongue shall kill him.
- 17
- He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter.
- 18
- That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down;
its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice [therein].
- 19
- For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor;
he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build.
- 20
- Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired.
- 21
- Nothing escaped his greediness;
therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
- 22
- In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits;
every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.
- 23
- It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh.
- 24
- If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.
- 25
- He draweth it forth;
it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
- 26
- All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him;
it shall feed upon what is left in his tent.
- 27
- The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
- 28
- The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger.
- 29
- This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.
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