| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, | 1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: |
| 2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. | 2"This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back--because of my feelings within me. |
| 3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. | 3When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer. |
| 4Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, | 4"Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth, |
| 5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? | 5that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. |
| 6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; | 6Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, |
| 7Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? | 7he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?' |
| 8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. | 8Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight. |
| 9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. | 9People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer. |
| 10His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. | 10His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth. |
| 11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. | 11His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust. |
| 12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; | 12"If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, |
| 13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: | 13if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth, |
| 14Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. | 14his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him. |
| 15He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. | 15The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach. |
| 16He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. | 16He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him. |
| 17He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. | 17He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter. |
| 18That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. | 18He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. |
| 19Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; | 19For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build. |
| 20Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. | 20For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape. |
| 21There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. | 21"Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last. |
| 22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. | 22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. the full force of misery will come upon him. |
| 23When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. | 23"While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him. |
| 24He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. | 24If he flees from an iron weapon, then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him. |
| 25It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. | 25When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver, terrors come over him. |
| 26All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. | 26Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. |
| 27The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. | 27The heavens reveal his iniquity; the earth rises up against him. |
| 28The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. | 28A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. |
| 29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. | 29Such is the lot God allots the wicked, and the heritage of his appointment from God." |
|
