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.
