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Zophar: Destruction Awaits the Wicked

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:² “So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.³ I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding demands a reply.⁴ Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?⁶ Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,⁷ he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’⁸ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.

¹⁰ His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.¹¹ The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.¹² Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,¹³ though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,¹⁴ yet his food will sour in his stomach to the venom of cobras within him.¹⁵ He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.¹⁷ He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.¹⁸ He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.¹⁹ For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.²⁰ Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.²¹ Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.²² In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.

²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.²⁵ It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors come over him.²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.²⁷ The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.²⁸ The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.²⁹ This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”