New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
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Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:
2 “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.
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Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.
3 I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.
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The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
4 “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth,
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This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,
5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
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That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.
6 Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
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If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:
7 he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
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In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?
8 Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.
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As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:
9 The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.
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The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.
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His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.
11 The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
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His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,
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For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in his mouth,
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He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.
14 yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.
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His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,
15 He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.
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The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.
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He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.
17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
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Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.
18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
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He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.
19 For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
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Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.
20 “Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
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And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.
21 Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
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There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:
22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.
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When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.
23 When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows on him.
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May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.
24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
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He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.
25 He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;
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The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.
26 total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
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All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.
27 The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.
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The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
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The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.