Chapter 20

  Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,  

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  Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.  

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  I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.  

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  Knowest thou [not] this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,  

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  That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment?  

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  Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds;  

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  Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?  

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  He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.  

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  The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him.  

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  His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth.  

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  His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust.  

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  Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue,  

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  Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;  

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  Yet his food in his bowels is turned, It is the gall of asps within him.  

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  He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.  

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  He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper's tongue shall slay him.  

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  He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter.  

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  That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.  

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  For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor; He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.  

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  Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.  

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  There was nothing left that he devoured not; Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.  

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  In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.  

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  When he is about to fill his belly, [God] will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, And will rain it upon him while he is eating.  

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  He shall flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of brass shall strike him through.  

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  He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body; Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall: Terrors are upon him.  

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  All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown [by man] shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.  

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  The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise up against him.  

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  The increase of his house shall depart; [His goods] shall flow away in the day of his wrath.  

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  This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.  

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