| 章 |
| 20:1 |
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
|
| 20:2 |
"My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.
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| 20:3 |
I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.
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| 20:4 |
"Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth,
|
| 20:5 |
that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
|
| 20:6 |
Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
|
| 20:7 |
he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, `Where is he?
|
| 20:8 |
'Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.
|
| 20:9 |
The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.
|
| 20:10 |
His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.
|
| 20:11 |
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie 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 cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
|
| 20:14 |
yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.
|
| 20:15 |
He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.
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| 20:16 |
He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.
|
| 20:17 |
He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
|
| 20:18 |
What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
|
| 20:19 |
For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
|
| 20:20 |
"Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
|
| 20:21 |
Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
|
| 20:22 |
In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.
|
| 20:23 |
When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.
|
| 20:24 |
Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
|
| 20:25 |
He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;
|
| 20:26 |
total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
|
| 20:27 |
The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.
|
| 20:28 |
A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.
|
| 20:29 |
Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God."
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