1 ZOPHAR THE NAAMATHITE SPEAKS:
2 禄My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer for I am greatly disturbed.
3 禄I hear a rebuke that dishonors me. Therefore my understanding inspires me to reply.
4 禄Do you not know from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth?
5 禄The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
6 禄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 禄He flies away like a dream banished like a vision of the night. He cannot be found!
9 禄The eye that saw him will not see him again. His place home will look on him no more.
10 禄His children must make amends to the poor. He must give back his wealth.
11 禄The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
12 禄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 禄He will spit out the riches he swallowed. God will make his stomach vomit them up.
16 禄He will suck the poison of serpents. The fangs of an adder cobra will kill him.
17 禄He will not look upon the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 禄What he toiled for he must give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
19 禄For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build.
20 禄He will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
21 禄There is nothing left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
22 禄Distress will overtake him in the midst of his plenty. The full force of misery will come upon him.
23 禄With his belly full, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.
24 禄Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
25 禄He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him.
26 禄Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
27 禄The heavens will expose his guilt. The earth will rise up against him!
28 禄A flood will carry off his house. Rushing waters will wash away his possessions on the day of God聮s wrath.
29 禄This is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.芦