Skip to content- 1Verse 1. Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
- 2Verse 2. “So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
- 3Verse 3. I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
- 4Verse 4. Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,
- 5Verse 5. the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- 6Verse 6. Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
- 7Verse 7. he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
- 8Verse 8. He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
- 9Verse 9. The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.
- 10Verse 10. His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.
- 11Verse 11. The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.
- 12Verse 12. Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,
- 13Verse 13. though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
- 14Verse 14. yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.
- 15Verse 15. He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
- 16Verse 16. He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
- 17Verse 17. He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
- 18Verse 18. He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
- 19Verse 19. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
- 20Verse 20. Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.
- 21Verse 21. Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.
- 22Verse 22. In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.
- 23Verse 23. When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.
- 24Verse 24. Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
- 25Verse 25. It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
- 26Verse 26. Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
- 27Verse 27. The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
- 28Verse 28. The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
- 29Verse 29. This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”