[1] Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
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[2] Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
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[3] I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.
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[4] Know you not this of old, since man was placed on earth,
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[5] That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
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[6] Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds;
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[7] Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
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[8] He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yes, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
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[9] The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
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[10] His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
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[11] His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
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[12] Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
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[13] Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
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[14] Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
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[15] He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
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[16] He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
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[17] He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
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[18] That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
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[19] Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away an house which he built not;
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[20] Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
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[21] There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
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[22] In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come on him.
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[23] When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath on him, and shall rain it on him while he is eating.
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[24] He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
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[25] It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yes, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are on him.
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[26] All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
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[27] The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
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[28] The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
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[29] This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.
