20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 20:2 "Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. 20:3 I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me. 20:4 Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, 20:5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment 20:6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, 20:7 he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he' 20:8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. 20:9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him. 20:10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth. 20:11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. 20:12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, 20:13 though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, 20:14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. 20:15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. 20:16 He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. 20:17 He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. 20:18 He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. 20:19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build. 20:20 "Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him. 20:21 There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure. 20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him. 20:23 To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body. 20:24 He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through. 20:25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him. 20:26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed. 20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. 20:28 The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. 20:29 This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God."