1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said,
2 My thoughts certainly cause me to answer, and therefore, I make haste. 3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my intelligence causes me to answer. 4 Dost thou not know this that always was, since man was placed upon earth, 5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches unto the clouds, 7 yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him shall say, What is become of him? 8 He shall fly away as a dream and shall not be found: yea, he shall flee away as a vision of the night. 9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place behold him any more. 10 His poor sons shall go forth begging, and their hands shall restore that which he stole. 11 His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall be buried with him in the dust.
12 If wickedness was sweet in his mouth, if he hid it under his tongue, 13 if it seemed good unto him, and he did not forsake it, but savored it within his mouth, 14 his food shall be changed in his bowels, it shall be the gall of asps within him. 15 He has swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again; God shall cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall slay him. 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. 18 He shall restore the work that was not his; according to the substance that he took; neither shall he devour, nor rejoice. 19 Because he oppressed and forsook the poor; because he has violently taken away houses which he did not build,
20 therefore, he shall not feel quietness in his belly; he shall not escape with that which he desired. 21 Nothing is left that he did not eat; therefore, his goods shall not last. 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, he shall come into anguish; the hands of all the wicked shall come upon him. 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him and upon his food. 24 He shall flee from the weapons of iron, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through. 25 He shall draw forth an arrow from his quiver, and like lightning it shall strike through his gall; terrors shall come upon him. 26 All darkness is kept for his secrets; a fire not blown shall consume him; his successor shall be broken in his tent. 27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall be taken captive; they shall be scattered in the day of his wrath. 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage that God appoints unto him by his word.