1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
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2“Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
- even by reason of my haste that is in me.
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3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.
- The spirit of my understanding answers me.
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4Don’t you know this from old time,
- since man was placed on earth,
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5that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
- the joy of the godless but for a moment?
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6Though his height mount up to the heavens,
- and his head reach to the clouds,
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7yet he shall perish forever like his own dung.
- Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’
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8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found.
- Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
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9The eye which saw him shall see him no more,
- neither shall his place any more see him.
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10His children shall seek the favor of the poor.
- His hands shall give back his wealth.
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11His bones are full of his youth,
- but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
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12“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
- though he hide it under his tongue,
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13though he spare it, and will not let it go,
- but keep it still within his mouth;
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14yet his food in his bowels is turned.
- It is cobra venom within him.
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15He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
- God will cast them out of his belly.
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16He shall suck cobra venom.
- The viper’s tongue shall kill him.
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17He shall not look at the rivers,
- the flowing streams of honey and butter.
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18That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down.
- According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
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19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
- He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
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20“Because he knew no quietness within him,
- he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
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21There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,
- therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
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22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.
- The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
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23When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.
- It will rain on him while he is eating.
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24He shall flee from the iron weapon.
- The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
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25He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body.
- Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.
- Terrors are on him.
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26All darkness is laid up for his treasures.
- An unfanned fire shall devour him.
- It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
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27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity.
- The earth shall rise up against him.
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28The increase of his house shall depart.
- They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
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29This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
- the heritage appointed to him by God.”