1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite , and said , 2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer , and for this I make haste . 3I have heard the check of my reproach , and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer . 4Knowest thou not this of old , since man was placed upon earth , 5That the triumphing of the wicked is short , and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment ? 6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens , and his head reach unto the clouds ; 7Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung : they which have seen him shall say , Where is he? 8He shall fly away as a dream , and shall not be found : yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night . 9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more ; neither shall his place any more behold him. 10His children shall seek to please the poor , and his hands shall restore their goods . 11His bones are full of the sin of his youth , which shall lie down with him in the dust .
The Fate of the Wicked
12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth , though he hide it under his tongue ; 13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth : 14Yet his meat in his bowels is turned , it is the gall of asps within him. 15He hath swallowed down riches , and he shall vomit them up again : God shall cast them out of his belly . 16He shall suck the poison of asps : the viper’s tongue shall slay him. 17He shall not see the rivers , the floods , the brooks of honey and butter . 18That 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 . 19Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor ; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
The Certainty of Divine Justice
20Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly , he shall not save of that which he desired . 21There shall none of his meat be left ; therefore shall no man look for his goods . 22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits : every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. 23When 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 . 24He shall flee from the iron weapon , and the bow of steel shall strike him through . 25It is drawn , and cometh out of the body ; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall : terrors are upon him. 26All 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 . 27The heaven shall reveal his iniquity ; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28The increase of his house shall depart , and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath . 29This is the portion of a wicked man from God , and the heritage appointed unto him by God .