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[1]Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
[2]Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of mine agitation that is in me.
[3]I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, but out of my understanding my spirit answereth me.
[4]Knowest thou not this of old time, since man was placed upon earth,
[5]That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
[6]Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
[7]Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; they that have seen him shall say: 'Where is he?'
[8]He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
[9]The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
[10]His children shall appease the poor, and his hands shall restore his wealth.
[11]His bones are full of his youth, but it shall lie down with him in the dust.
[12]Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
[13]Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;
[14]Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
[15]He hath swallowed down riches, and 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 slay him.
[17]He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and curd.
[18]That which he laboured for shall he give back, and shall not swallow it down; according to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
[19]For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
[20]Because he knew no quietness within him, in his greed he suffered nought to escape,
[21]There was nothing left that he devoured not—therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
[22]In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; the hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
[23]It shall be for the filling of his belly; He shall cast the fierceness of His wrath upon him, and shall cause it to rain upon him into his flesh.
[24]If he flee from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.
[25]He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; terrors are upon him.
[26]All darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown by man shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that 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, his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
[29]This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
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