Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Living Translation NLT
1 Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:
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Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.
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“I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.
3 The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
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I’ve had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
4 This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,
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“Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time, ever since people were first placed on the earth,
5 That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.
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the triumph of the wicked has been short lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
6 If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:
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Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds,
7 In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?
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yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, ‘Where are they?’
8 As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:
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They will fade like a dream and not be found. They will vanish like a vision in the night.
9 The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.
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Those who once saw them will see them no more. Their families will never see them again.
10 His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.
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Their children will beg from the poor, for they must give back their stolen riches.
11 His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.
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Though they are young, their bones will lie in the dust.
12 For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
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“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness, letting it melt under their tongue.
13 He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.
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They savored it, holding it long in their mouths.
14 His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,
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But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.
15 The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.
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They will vomit the wealth they swallowed. God won’t let them keep it down.
16 He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.
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They will suck the poison of cobras. The viper will kill them.
17 Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.
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They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.
18 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.
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They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy.
19 Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.
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For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes.
20 And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.
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They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.
21 There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:
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Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.
22 When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.
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“In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble and be overcome by misery.
23 May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.
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May God give them a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon them.
24 He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.
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When they try to escape an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
25 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.
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The arrow is pulled from their back, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon them.
26 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.
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Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour their goods, consuming all they have left.
27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
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The heavens will reveal their guilt, and the earth will testify against them.
28 The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
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A flood will sweep away their house. God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.
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This is the reward that God gives the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God.”
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