Zophar: Destruction Awaits the Wicked

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

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“ So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer,

because of the turmoil within me.

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I have heard a rebuke that insults me,

and my understanding prompts a reply.

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Do you not know that from antiquity,

since man was placed on the earth,

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the triumph of the wicked has been brief

and the joy of the godless vvv momentary?

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Though his arrogance reaches the heavens,

and his head touches the clouds,

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he will perish forever, like his own dung;

those who had seen him will ask,‘Where is he?’

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He will fly away like a dream, never to be found;

he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

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The eye [that] saw him will see him no more,

and his place will no longer behold him.

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His sons will seek the favor of the poor,

for his own hands must return his wealth.

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The youthful vigor that fills his bones

will lie down with him in the dust.

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Though evil is sweet in his mouth

and he conceals it under his tongue,

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though he cannot bear to let it go

and keeps it in his mouth,

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yet in his stomach his food sours

into the venom of cobras within him.

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He swallows wealth but vomits it out;

God will force it from his stomach.

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He will suck the poison of cobras;

the fangs of a viper will kill him.

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He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

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He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;

he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.

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For he has oppressed [and] forsaken the poor;

he has seized houses he did not build.

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Because his appetite is never satisfied

he cannot escape with his treasure.

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Nothing is left for him to consume;

thus his prosperity will not endure.

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In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed

the full force of misery will come upon him.

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When he has filled his stomach,

God will vent His fury upon him,

raining it down on him as he eats.

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Though he flees from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

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It is drawn out of his back,

the gleaming point from his liver.[fn]

Terrors come over him.

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Total darkness is reserved 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 iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

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The possessions of his house will be removed,

flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

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This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

the inheritance God has appointed him.” 21