Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 Job, you upset me.
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Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2 Now I'm impatient to answer.
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“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3 What you have said is an insult, but I know how to reply to you.
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I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4 Surely you know that from ancient times, when we humans were first placed on earth,
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Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
5 no wicked people have been happy for long.
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that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 They may grow great, towering to the sky, so great that their heads reach the clouds,
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Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
7 but they will be blown away like dust. Those who used to know them will wonder where they have gone.
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yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 They will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night, and never be seen again.
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He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The wicked will disappear from the place where they used to live;
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The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
10 and their children will make good what they stole from the poor.
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His children will seek the favor of the poor. His hands will give back his wealth.
11 Their bodies used to be young and vigorous, but soon they will turn to dust.
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His bones are full of his youth, but youth will lie down with him in the dust.
12 Evil tastes so good to them that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavor.
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“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
14 But in their stomachs the food turns bitter, as bitter as any poison could be.
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yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
15 The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole; God takes it back, even out of their stomachs.
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He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
16 What the evil people swallow is like poison; it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.
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He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
17 They will not live to see rivers of olive oil or streams that flow with milk and honey.
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He will not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18 They will have to give up all they have worked for; they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth,
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He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
19 because they oppressed and neglected the poor and seized houses someone else had built.
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For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
20 Their greed is never satisfied.
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“Because he knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
21 When they eat, there is nothing left over, but now their prosperity comes to an end.
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There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 At the height of their success all the weight of misery will crush them.
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In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
23 Let them eat all they want! God will punish them in fury and anger.
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When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
24 When they try to escape from an iron sword, a bronze bow will shoot them down.
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He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through.
25 Arrows stick through their bodies; the shiny points drip with their blood, and terror grips their hearts.
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He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
26 Everything they have saved is destroyed; a fire not lit by human hands burns them and all their family.
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
27 Heaven reveals their sin, and the earth gives testimony against them.
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The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him.
28 All their wealth will be destroyed in the flood of God's anger.
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The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the fate of wicked people, the fate that God assigns to them.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.