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Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
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“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
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I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
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Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
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that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
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Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
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yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
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He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
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The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
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His children will seek the favour of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
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His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
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“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
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though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,
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yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
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He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
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He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
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He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
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He will restore that for which he laboured, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
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For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
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“Because he knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
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There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
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In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
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When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
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He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
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He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
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The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
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The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”