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20:1  Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
20:2  “Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
20:3  I have heard the rebuke that disgraces me, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.
20:4  “Do you not know this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
20:5  that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
20:6  Though his loftiness extends to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds,
20:7  yet he will perish forever like his own excrement; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8  He will fly away like a dream and will not be found; yes, he will be chased away as a vision of the night.
20:9  The eye that saw him will see him no more; nor will his place behold him anymore.
20:10  His children will seek favor from the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
20:11  His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12  “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue,
20:13  though he spares it and does not forsake it, but keeps it in his mouth,
20:14  yet his food in his stomach turns sour; it becomes the venom of cobras within him.
20:15  He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.
20:16  He will suck the poison of cobras; the viper’s tongue will slay him.
20:17  He will not see the streams, the rivers, the brooks of honey and butter.
20:18  He will give back the produce of labor and will not swallow it down. According to his wealth the restitution will be, and he will not rejoice in it;
20:19  because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house that he did not build.
20:20  “Because he knows no quietness in his belly, he will not save anything he desired.
20:21  Nothing is left for him to eat; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
20:22  In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of misery will come upon him.
20:23  When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fury of His wrath on him and will rain it on him while he is eating.
20:24  He will flee from the iron weapon; a bronze bow will pierce him through.
20:25  It is drawn and comes out of the body; yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors are upon him.
20:26  Total darkness is stored up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.
20:27  The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
20:28  The increase of his house will depart, and his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.
20:29  This is the wicked man’s portion from God, and the inheritance appointed to him by God.”