| | 1 | Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: | |
| | 2 | "My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed. | |
| | 3 | I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply. | |
| | 4 | "Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth, | |
| | 5 | that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. | |
| | 6 | Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, | |
| | 7 | he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?' | |
| | 8 | Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night. | |
| | 9 | The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more. | |
| | 10 | His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth. | |
| | 11 | The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. | |
| | 12 | "Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, | |
| | 13 | though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, | |
| | 14 | yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. | |
| | 15 | He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up. | |
| | 16 | He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him. | |
| | 17 | He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. | |
| | 18 | What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading. | |
| | 19 | For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build. | |
| | 20 | "Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure. | |
| | 21 | Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure. | |
| | 22 | In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him. | |
| | 23 | When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him. | |
| | 24 | Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him. | |
| | 25 | He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him; | |
| | 26 | total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. | |
| | 27 | The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him. | |
| | 28 | A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. | |
| | 29 | Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God." | |
