^1. Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

^2. "My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.

^3. I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.

^4. "Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man [1] was placed on the earth,

^5. that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

^6. Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

^7. he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, `Where is he?'

^8. Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.

^9. The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.

^10. His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.

^11. The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.

^12. "Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,

^13. though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

^14. yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.

^15. He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.

^16. He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.

^17. He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

^18. What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

^19. For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.

^20. "Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.

^21. Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.

^22. In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.

^23. When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.

^24. Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

^25. He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;

^26. total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

^27. The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.

^28. A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters [2] on the day of God's wrath.

^29. Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God."