| Chapter 20 |
1 |
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, --
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2 |
Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. --
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3 |
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. --
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4 |
Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, --
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5 |
That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? --
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6 |
Though his excellence shall mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds; --
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7 |
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they who have seen him shall say, Where is he? --
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8 |
He shall fly away as a dream, and will not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. --
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9 |
The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. --
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10 |
His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. --
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11 |
His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. --
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12 |
Though wickedness may be sweet in his mouth, though he may hide it under his tongue; --
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13 |
Though he may spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: --
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14 |
Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. --
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15 |
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. --
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16 |
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. --
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17 |
He shall not see the river, the floods, the brooks of honey and buttermilk. --
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18 |
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice in it. --
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19 |
Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build. --
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20 |
Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. --
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21 |
There shall none of his food be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. --
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22 |
In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. --
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23 |
When 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. --
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24 |
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. --
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25 |
It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yes, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. --
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26 |
All 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. --
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27 |
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. --
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28 |
The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. --
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29 |
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God. --
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