Zophar: Triumph of the Wicked Short-lived

1And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

2Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me.

3I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding.

4Knowest thou [not] this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment?

6Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds,

7Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.

9The eye which saw him shall [see him] not again; and his place beholdeth him no more.

10His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.

11His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust.

12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth [and] he hide it under his tongue,

13[Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth,

14His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him.

15He hath swallowed down riches, but 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 kill him.

17He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter.

18That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice [therein].

19For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build.

20Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired.

21Nothing escaped his greediness; therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.

23It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh.

24If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.

25He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

26All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall feed upon what is left in his tent.

27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

28The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger.

29This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.