1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
1And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer,
because of the turmoil within me.
2“So my anxious thoughts make me answer, because of my urgency within me.
3I have heard a rebuke that insults me,
and my understanding prompts a reply.
3The rebuke of my shaming I have heard, and a spirit from my understanding answers for me.
4Do you not know that from antiquity,
since man was placed on the earth,
4This do you know from long ago, from the placing of man upon the earth,
5the triumph of the wicked has been brief
and the joy of the godless momentary?
5that the triumph of the wicked is brief, and the rejoicing of the godless is for a moment?
6Though his arrogance reaches the heavens,
and his head touches the clouds,
6Though his loftiness should go up to the heavens, and his head should touch to the clouds,
7he will perish forever, like his own dung;
those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
7like his dung, forever he will perish; those having seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8He will fly away like a dream, never to be found;
he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
8Like a dream he will fly away and they will not find him; indeed he will be made to wander like a vision of the night.
9The eye that saw him will see him no more,
and his place will no longer behold him.
9The eye that saw him will not continue, and his place will not behold him again.
10His sons will seek the favor of the poor,
for his own hands must return his wealth.
10His children will recompense the poor, and his hands will return his wealth.
11The youthful vigor that fills his bones
will lie down with him in the dust.
11His bones are full of his vigor, and upon the dust it will lie down with him.
12Though evil is sweet in his mouth
and he conceals it under his tongue,
12Though evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue,
13though he cannot bear to let it go
and keeps it in his mouth,
13he has pity on it and does not forsake it, and he withholds it in the midst of his palate.
14yet in his stomach his food sours
into the venom of cobras within him.
14His food is turned over in his belly, and the venom of cobras is within him.
15He swallows wealth but vomits it out;
God will force it from his stomach.
15He swallows wealth and vomits it; from his belly God expels it.
16He will suck the poison of cobras;
the fangs of a viper will kill him.
16The poison of cobras he will suck, and the tongue of a viper will kill him.
17He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
17He shall not look on streams, or rivers with torrents of honey and cream.
18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;
he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
18He will return his gain and not consume it; he will not rejoice from the wealth of his exchange.
19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor;
he has seized houses he did not build.
19For he has crushed and forsaken the poor; he has seized a house, and he did not build it.
20Because his appetite is never satisfied,
he cannot escape with his treasure.
20For he has not known quiet in his belly, and with his desiring he will not deliver himself.
21Nothing is left for him to consume;
thus his prosperity will not endure.
21There is no remnant for him to eat; and upon thus his prosperity will not endure.
22In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed;
the full force of misery will come upon him.
22In the fullness of his sufficiency there will be distress for him; every hand of toil will come upon him.
23When he has filled his stomach,
God will vent His fury upon him,
raining it down on him as he eats.
23It will come to pass at the filling of his belly, that God will send forth against him the burning of His anger, and will rain upon him into his bowels.
24Though he flees from an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
24He will flee from a weapon of iron; a bow of bronze will pierce him through.
25It is drawn out of his back,
the gleaming point from his liver.a
Terrors come over him.
25It is drawn and comes out from his back, and the gleaming point from his gall; terrors shall come over him.
26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
A fire unfanned will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.
26Complete darkness is hidden for his treasuring; a fire that is not fanned will consume him, the remnant in his tent will be devoured.
27The heavens will expose his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
27The heavens will uncover his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
28The possessions of his house will be removed,
flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
28The flood will roll away his house, flowing away on the day of His anger.
29This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
the inheritance God has appointed him.”
29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him from God.”