1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite , and said ,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer , and for this I make haste .
3 I have heard the check of my reproach , and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer .
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth ,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short , and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment ?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens , and his head reach unto the clouds ;
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung : they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 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 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more ; neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children shall seek to please the poor , and his hands shall restore their goods .
11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth , which shall lie down with him in the dust .
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth , though he hide it under his tongue ;
13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth :
14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned , it is the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches , and 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 slay him.
17 He shall not see the rivers , the floods , the brooks of honey and butter .
18 That which he laboured for shall he restore , and shall not swallow it down : according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein .
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor ; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly , he shall not save of that which he desired .
21 There shall none of his meat be left ; therefore shall no man look for his goods .
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits : every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly , God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating .
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon , and the bow of steel shall strike him through .
25 It is drawn , and cometh out of the body ; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall : terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places : a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle .
27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity ; and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart , and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath .
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.