1 T hen answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

2 T herefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

4 K nowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5 T hat the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

6 T hough his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

7 Y et he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8 H e shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9 T he eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

10 H is children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

11 H is bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 T hough wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

13 T hough he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

14 Y et his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

15 H e hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

16 H e shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

17 H e shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

18 T hat which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

19 B ecause he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

20 S urely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

21 T here shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

22 I n the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

23 W hen he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

24 H e shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

25 I t is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

26 A ll darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

27 T he heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

28 T he increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

29 T his is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.