1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2Doubtless my thoughts cause me to answer, and therefore I make haste.
3I have heard the correction of my reproach: therefore the spirit of mine understanding causeth me to answer.
4Knowest thou not this of old? and since God placed man upon the earth,
5That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and that the joy of the hypocrites is but a moment?
6Though his excellency mount up to the heaven, and his head reach unto the clouds,
7Yet shall he perish forever like his dung, and they which have seen him, shall say, Where is he?
8He shall flee away as a dream, and they shall not find him, and shall pass away as a vision of the night.
9So that the eye which had seen him, shall do so no more, and his place shall see him no more.
10His children shall flatter the poor, and his hands shall restore his substance.
11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust.
12When wickedness was sweet in his mouth, and he hid it under his tongue,
13And favored it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,
14Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Asps was in the midst of him.
15He hath devoured substance, and he shall vomit it: for God shall draw it out of his belly.
16He shall suck the gall of Asps, and the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17He shall not see the rivers, nor the floods and streams of honey and butter.
18He shall restore the labor, and shall devour no more: even according to the substance shall be his exchange, and he shall enjoy it no more.
19For he hath undone many: he hath forsaken the poor, and hath spoiled houses which he built not.
20Surely he shall feel no quietness in his body, neither shall he reserve of that which he desired.
21There shall none of his meat be left: therefore none shall hope for his goods.
22When he shall be filled with his abundance, he shall be in pain, and the hand of all the wicked shall assail him.
23He shall be about to fill his belly, but God shall send upon him his fierce wrath, and shall cause to rain upon him, even upon his meat.
24He shall flee from the iron weapons, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
25The arrow is drawn out, and cometh forth of the body, and shineth of his gall, so fear cometh upon him.
26All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: the fire that is not blown shall devour him, and that which remaineth in his tabernacle shall be destroyed.
27The heaven shall declare his wickedness, and the earth shall rise up against him.
28The increase of his house shall go away: it shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage that he shall have of God, for his words.