| 1 | Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: |
| 2 | “Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me. |
| 3 | I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me. |
| 4 | Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth, |
| 5 | that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment? |
| 6 | Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds, |
| 7 | they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’ |
| 8 | They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night. |
| 9 | The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer. |
| 10 | Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth. |
| 11 | Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them. |
| 12 | “Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues, |
| 13 | though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths, |
| 14 | yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them. |
| 15 | They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies. |
| 16 | They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them. |
| 17 | They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. |
| 18 | They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment. |
| 19 | For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build. |
| 20 | “They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape. |
| 21 | There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure. |
| 22 | In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them. |
| 23 | To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food. |
| 24 | They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through. |
| 25 | It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them. |
| 26 | Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed. |
| 27 | The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them. |
| 28 | The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath. |
| 29 | This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God.” |