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- ¶ THEN Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said,
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- Therefore my discipline has caused me to discern, and for my help it has remained with me.
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- I will make you hear the instruction of my discipline, and the spirit of my understanding will cause me to answer.
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- This I know from of old, since man was created upon the earth,
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- That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment.
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- Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach to the clouds,
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- Yet he shall perish for ever like a whirlwind;
those who have seen him shall say, Where is he?
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- He shall fly away like a dream, and shall not be found;
yea, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
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- The eye also which saw him shall see him no more;
neither shall they see his place again.
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- ¶ His children shall be crushed with poverty, and he shall stretch out his hands toward them.
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- His bones are full of marrow, but they shall lie down with him in the dust.
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- Though his wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide deceit under his tongue,
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- Though he spare it and forsake it not, but keep it still in his mouth;
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- Yet his food in his stomach is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
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- The riches which he had swallowed down, he shall vomit up out of his belly;
and God shall destroy him.
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- He shall suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of an adder shall slay him.
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- He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
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- That which he had labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
that which he had acquired by extortion he shall not enjoy;
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- Because he has thought to forsake the poor;
because he has violently taken away a house which he did not build.
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- Because he knew no justice himself, he shall not be spared by his covetousness.
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- There shall none of his posterity be spared;
therefore his good will not be remembered.
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- With the measure with which he had measured, he shall be recompensed;
the hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
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- ¶ May his posterity go to destruction, may God cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and deluge him while he wars against him.
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- For although he had escaped because of the breastplate of iron, the bow of brass shall pierce him through.
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- It is drawn, and it brings forth his inward parts;
and the skin of his gall shall be pierced; terror shall be upon him continually.
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- All darkness is kept in store for his posterity;
a blazing fire shall consume him; and the one who is left in his tent shall be destroyed.
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- The heaven shall reveal his sins;
and the earth avenge itself upon him.
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- The foundations of his house shall be left bare and he shall be scourged in the day of his wrath.
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- This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him from the Highest.
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