1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
2 "Therefore my disquieting thoughts bring me back {for the sake of} my inward excitement.
3 I hear discipline that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4 "Did you know this from of old, since the setting of [the] human being on earth,
5 that [the] rejoicing of [the] wicked [is] {short}, and the joy of [the] godless {lasts only a moment}?
6 Even though his stature mounts up to the heaven, and his head reaches to the clouds,
7 he will perish forever like his dung; [those who] have seen him will say, 'Where [is] he?'
8 He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of [the] night.
9 [The] eye [that] saw him {will not see him again}, and his place will no longer behold him.
10 His children will seek favors from [the] poor, and his hands will return his wealth.
11 His bones were full of his vigor, but it will lie down with him on [the] dust.
12 "Though wickedness tastes sweet in his mouth, [and] he hides it under his tongue,
13 [though] he spares it and does not let it go [and] holds it back in the midst of his palate,
14 in his bowels his food is turned, [the] venom of horned vipers [is] {within him}.
15 He swallows riches, but he vomits them [up]; God drives them out from his stomach.
16 He will suck [the] poison of horned vipers; [the] viper's tongue will kill him.
17 {He will not enjoy the streams}, [the] torrents of honey and curds.
18 Returning [the] products of [his] toil, he will not swallow; according to the profit of his trade, {he will not enjoy},
19 for he has oppressed; he has abandoned [the] poor; he has seized a house but did not build it.
20 Because he has not known satisfaction in his stomach, {he lets nothing escape that he desires}.
21 {There is nothing left after he has eaten}; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his excess {he will be in distress}; all of misery's power will come [upon] him.
23 {When his stomach fills up}, [God] will send {his burning anger} upon him, and he will let [it] rain down upon him as his food.
24 "He will flee from an iron weapon, [but] an arrow of bronze will pierce him.
25 He draws [it] forth, and it comes out from [his] body, and [the] glittering point comes from his gall-bladder; terrors come upon him.
26 {Total darkness} is hidden for his treasures; {an unfanned fire} will devour him; [the] remnant {will be consumed} in his tent.
27 [The] heavens will reveal his guilt, and [the] earth will rise up against him.
28 The products of his house will be carried away [like] gushing waters on the day of his wrath.
29 This [is] a wicked human being's portion from God and the inheritance of his decree from God."