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1.
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
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2.
"My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.
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3.
I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.
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4.
"Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth,
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5.
that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
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6.
Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
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7.
he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'
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8.
Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.
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9.
The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.
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10.
His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.
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11.
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
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12.
"Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,
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13.
though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
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14.
yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.
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15.
He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.
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16.
He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.
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17.
He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
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18.
What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
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19.
For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
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20.
"Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
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21.
Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
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22.
In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.
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23.
When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.
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24.
Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
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25.
He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;
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26.
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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27.
The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.
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28.
A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.
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29.
Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God."
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