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