Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
{Or, And by reason of this my haste is within me}Even by reason of my haste that is in me.
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame;
{Or, But out of my understanding my spirit answereth me}And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
Knowest thou not this of old time,
Since man was placed upon earth,
That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Though his height mount up to the heavens,
And his head reach unto the clouds;
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found:
Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
The eye which saw him shall see him no more;
Neither shall his place any more behold him.
{Or, as otherwise read, The poor shall oppress his children}His children shall seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands shall give back his wealth.
His bones are full of his youth,
But it shall lie down with him in the dust.
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue,
Though he spare it, and will not let it go,
But keep it still within his mouth;
Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
It is the gall of asps within him.
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again;
God will cast them out of his belly.
He shall suck the poison of asps:
The viper's tongue shall slay him.
He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
According to the substance {Hebrew: of his exchange.}that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He hath violently taken away a house, {Or, which he builded not}and he shall not build it up.
Because he knew no quietness {Or, in his greed Hebrew: in his belly.}within him,
He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
There was nothing left that he devoured not;
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
{Or, Let it be for the filling of his belly that God shall cast &c.}When he is about to fill his belly,
God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,
And will rain it upon him {Or, as his food}while he is eating.
He shall flee from the iron weapon,
And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;
Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:
Terrors are upon him.
All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
A fire not blown by man shall devour him;
{Or, It shall go ill with him that is left}It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,
And the earth shall rise up against him.
The increase of his house shall depart;
His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.
Querverweise zu Hiob 20,11 Hiob 20,11
For thou writest bitter things against me,And makest me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:
They lie down alike in the dust,And the worm covereth them.
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
The wicked is thrust down in his {Or, calamity}evil-doing;But the righteous hath a refuge in his death.
Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:According to thy lovingkindness remember thou me,For thy goodness' sake, O Jehovah.
{Or, For thy filthy lewdness}In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed, thou shalt not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest.
And thou {Or, groan}mourn at thy latter end,When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction,And my heart despised reproof;
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked,And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
He shall die for lack of instruction;And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.
{Or, And shall they not lie &c.?}And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, that are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are upon their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.