| 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. |