Dual Panel1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2"I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.
3I have had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
4"Don’t you realize that ever since people were first placed on the earth,
5the triumph of the wicked has been short–lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
6Though the godless man’s pride reaches to the heavens and though his head touches the clouds,
7yet he will perish forever, thrown away like his own dung. Those who knew him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
8He will fade like a dream and not be found. He will vanish like a vision in the night.
9Neither his friends nor his family will ever see him again.
10His children will beg from the poor, for he must give back his ill–gotten wealth.
11He was just a young man, but his bones will lie in the dust.
12"He enjoyed the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue.
13He savored it, holding it long in his mouth.
14But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach.
15He will vomit the wealth he swallowed. God won’t let him keep it down.
16He will suck the poison of snakes. The viper will kill him.
17He will never again enjoy abundant streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.
18His labors will not be rewarded. His wealth will bring him no joy.
19For he oppressed the poor and left them destitute. He foreclosed on their homes.
20He was always greedy but never satisfied. Of all the things he dreamed about, nothing remains.
21Nothing is left after he finishes gorging himself; therefore, his prosperity will not endure.
22"In the midst of plenty, he will run into trouble, and disasters will destroy him.
23May God give him a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon him.
24He will try to escape, but God’s arrow will pierce him.
25The arrow is pulled from his body, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon him.
26"His treasures will be lost in deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour his goods, consuming all he has left.
27The heavens will reveal his guilt, and the earth will give testimony against him.
28A flood will sweep away his house. God’s anger will descend on him in torrents.
29This is the fate that awaits the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God."