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20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: 20:2 "Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me. 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. 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."