| 章 |
| 20:1 |
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
|
| 20:2 |
"Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me.
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| 20:3 |
I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
|
| 20:4 |
Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth,
|
| 20:5 |
that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
|
| 20:6 |
Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds,
|
| 20:7 |
they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, 'Where are they?'
|
| 20:8 |
They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
|
| 20:9 |
The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.
|
| 20:10 |
Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth.
|
| 20:11 |
Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them.
|
| 20:12 |
"Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues,
|
| 20:13 |
though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths,
|
| 20:14 |
yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.
|
| 20:15 |
They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies.
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| 20:16 |
They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them.
|
| 20:17 |
They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
|
| 20:18 |
They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment.
|
| 20:19 |
For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build.
|
| 20:20 |
"They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.
|
| 20:21 |
There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure.
|
| 20:22 |
In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.
|
| 20:23 |
To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food.
|
| 20:24 |
They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through.
|
| 20:25 |
It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them.
|
| 20:26 |
Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed.
|
| 20:27 |
The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them.
|
| 20:28 |
The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
|
| 20:29 |
This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God."
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