| NET Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: | 1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: |
| 2"This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back--because of my feelings within me. | 2This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset! |
| 3When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer. | 3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply. |
| 4"Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth, | 4Don't you know that ever since antiquity, from the time man was placed on earth, |
| 5that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. | 5the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment? |
| 6Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, | 6Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds, |
| 7he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?' | 7he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, "Where is he?" |
| 8Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight. | 8He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. |
| 9People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer. | 9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him. |
| 10His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth. | 10His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth. |
| 11His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust. | 11His bones may be full of youthful vigor, but will lie down with him in the grave. |
| 12"If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, | 12Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, |
| 13if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth, | 13though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth, |
| 14his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him. | 14yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras' venom inside him. |
| 15The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach. | 15He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach. |
| 16He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him. | 16He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper's fangs will kill him. |
| 17He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter. | 17He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. |
| 18He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. | 18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn't enjoy the profits from his trading. |
| 19For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build. | 19For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build. |
| 20For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape. | 20Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape. |
| 21"Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last. | 21Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last. |
| 22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. the full force of misery will come upon him. | 22At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him. |
| 23"While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him. | 23When he fills his stomach, God will send His burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating. |
| 24If he flees from an iron weapon, then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him. | 24If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him. |
| 25When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver, terrors come over him. | 25He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver. Terrors come over him. |
| 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. | 26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent. |
| 27The heavens reveal his iniquity; the earth rises up against him. | 27The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. |
| 28A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. | 28The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God's anger. |
| 29Such is the lot God allots the wicked, and the heritage of his appointment from God." | 29This is the wicked man's lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him. |
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