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20:1  Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
20:2  "I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.
20:3  I've had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
20:4  "Don't you realize that from the beginning of time, ever since people were first placed on the earth,
20:5  the triumph of the wicked has been short lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
20:6  Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds,
20:7  yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, 'Where are they?'
20:8  They will fade like a dream and not be found. They will vanish like a vision in the night.
20:9  Those who once saw them will see them no more. Their families will never see them again.
20:10  Their children will beg from the poor, for they must give back their stolen riches.
20:11  Though they are young, their bones will lie in the dust.
20:12  "They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness, letting it melt under their tongue.
20:13  They savored it, holding it long in their mouths.
20:14  But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.
20:15  They will vomit the wealth they swallowed. God won't let them keep it down.
20:16  They will suck the poison of cobras. The viper will kill them.
20:17  They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.
20:18  They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy.
20:19  For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes.
20:20  They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.
20:21  Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.
20:22  "In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble and be overcome by misery.
20:23  May God give them a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon them.
20:24  When they try to escape an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
20:25  The arrow is pulled from their back, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon them.
20:26  Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour their goods, consuming all they have left.
20:27  The heavens will reveal their guilt, and the earth will testify against them.
20:28  A flood will sweep away their house. God's anger will descend on them in torrents.
20:29  This is the reward that God gives the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God."