[1] Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
[2] “Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me.
[3] “I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
[4] “Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth,
[5] “that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
[6] “Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
[7] “he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
[8] “He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
[9] “The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.
[10] “His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
[11] “His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
[12] “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,
[13] “though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth,
[14] “yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.
[15] “He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
[16] “He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him.
[17] “He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
[18] “He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.
[19] “For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.
[20] “Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
[21] “There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
[22] “In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
[23] “To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body.
[24] “He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through.
[25] “It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him.
[26] “Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.
[27] “The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
[28] “The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
[29] “This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”