The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,
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Job, you upset me.
2 For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.
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Now I'm impatient to answer.
3 I have to give ear to arguments which put me to shame, and your answers to me are wind without wisdom.
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What you have said is an insult, but I know how to reply to you.
4 Have you knowledge of this from early times, when man was placed on the earth,
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Surely you know that from ancient times, when we humans were first placed on earth,
5 That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute?
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no wicked people have been happy for long.
6 Though he is lifted up to the heavens, and his head goes up to the clouds;
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They may grow great, towering to the sky, so great that their heads reach the clouds,
7 Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?
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but they will be blown away like dust. Those who used to know them will wonder where they have gone.
8 He is gone like a dream, and is not seen again; he goes in flight like a vision of the night.
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They will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night, and never be seen again.
9 The eye which saw him sees him no longer; and his place has no more knowledge of him.
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The wicked will disappear from the place where they used to live;
10 His children are hoping that the poor will be kind to them, and his hands give back his wealth.
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and their children will make good what they stole from the poor.
11 His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.
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Their bodies used to be young and vigorous, but soon they will turn to dust.
12 Though evil-doing is sweet in his mouth, and he keeps it secretly under his tongue;
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Evil tastes so good to them that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavor.
13 Though he takes care of it, and does not let it go, but keeps it still in his mouth;
14 His food becomes bitter in his stomach; the poison of snakes is inside him.
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But in their stomachs the food turns bitter, as bitter as any poison could be.
15 He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God.
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The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole; God takes it back, even out of their stomachs.
16 He takes the poison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue of the snake is the cause of his death.
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What the evil people swallow is like poison; it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.
17 Let him not see the rivers of oil, the streams of honey and milk.
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They will not live to see rivers of olive oil or streams that flow with milk and honey.
18 He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.
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They will have to give up all they have worked for; they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth,
19 Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up;
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because they oppressed and neglected the poor and seized houses someone else had built.
20 There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight.
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Their greed is never satisfied.
21 He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end.
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When they eat, there is nothing left over, but now their prosperity comes to an end.
22 Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him.
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At the height of their success all the weight of misery will crush them.
23 God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain.
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Let them eat all they want! God will punish them in fury and anger.
24 He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him;
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When they try to escape from an iron sword, a bronze bow will shoot them down.
25 He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears.
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Arrows stick through their bodies; the shiny points drip with their blood, and terror grips their hearts.
26 All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent.
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Everything they have saved is destroyed; a fire not lit by human hands burns them and all their family.
27 The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him.
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Heaven reveals their sin, and the earth gives testimony against them.
28 The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath.
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All their wealth will be destroyed in the flood of God's anger.
29 This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.
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This is the fate of wicked people, the fate that God assigns to them.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.