Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
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Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of mine agitation that is in me.
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I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, But out of my understanding my spirit answereth me.
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Knowest thou not this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,
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That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
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Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds;
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Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; They that have seen him shall say: ‘Where is he?’
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He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
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The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him.
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His children shall appease the poor, And his hands shall restore his wealth.
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His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust.
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Though wickedness be 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 the gall of asps within him.
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He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God shall cast them out of his belly.
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He shall suck the poison of asps; The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
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He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and curd.
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That which he laboured for shall he give back, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
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For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
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Because he knew no quietness within him, In his greed he suffered nought to escape,
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There was nothing left that he devoured not— Therefore his prosperity shall not endure. .
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In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
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It shall be for the filling of his belly; He shall cast the fierceness of His wrath upon him, And shall cause it to rain upon him into his flesh.
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If he flee from the iron weapon, The bow of brass shall strike him through.
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He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; Terrors are upon him.
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures; A fire not blown by man shall consume him; It shall go ill with him that is left in his tent.
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The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise up against him.
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The increase of his house shall depart, His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.
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