Zophar: Destruction Awaits the Wicked 1 DRA Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said: BSB BSB: Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 DRA Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things. BSB BSB: “So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
3 DRA The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me. BSB BSB: I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
4 DRA This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth, BSB BSB: Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth,
5 DRA That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. BSB BSB: the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
6 DRA If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds: BSB BSB: Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
7 DRA In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he? BSB BSB: he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
8 DRA As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night: BSB BSB: He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
9 DRA The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him. BSB BSB: The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.
10 DRA His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow. BSB BSB: His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.
11 DRA His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust. BSB BSB: The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.
12 DRA For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue. BSB BSB: Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,
13 DRA He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat. BSB BSB: though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
14 DRA His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him. BSB BSB: yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.
15 DRA The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly. BSB BSB: He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
16 DRA He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him. BSB BSB: He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
17 DRA (Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.) BSB BSB: He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 DRA 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. BSB BSB: He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
19 DRA Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build. BSB BSB: For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
20 DRA And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them. BSB BSB: Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.
21 DRA There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods: BSB BSB: Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.
22 DRA When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him. BSB BSB: In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.
23 DRA May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him. BSB BSB: When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.
24 DRA He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass. BSB BSB: Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
25 DRA 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. BSB BSB: It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
26 DRA 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. BSB BSB: Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
27 DRA The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. BSB BSB: The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
28 DRA The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath. BSB BSB: The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
29 DRA This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord. BSB BSB: This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
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