1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered{vayaan: gave reply} and said{vayyomer: speech marker}:
2 Therefore my thoughts {seipai: restless reflections} cause me to answer, and because of my haste {khushi: urgent agitation} within me.
3 I hear instruction{musar: corrective discipline} of my reproach, and the spirit{ruach: inner impulse} from my understanding answers me.
4 Have you known this from old {minni-ad: long ago}, since humankind was set {sim: firmly established} upon the earth?
5 For the exultation {rinnanat: shouted rejoicing} of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless is only a moment {raga: tiny instant}.
6 If his height ascends to the heavens {shamayim: upper realm} and his head reaches the clouds {av: dense cloud}.
7 Like his own dung {gelal: foul waste} he will perish forever {netsach: without end}; those who once saw him will ask, “Where is he?”
8 Like a dream {chalom: fleeting image} he flies away, and they will not find him; he is chased away like a night vision {chezyon: night apparition}.
9 The eye that saw him will never see him again; his place {makom: dwelling place} will behold {shur: keep watch} him no more.
10 His sons will seek to appease{yerattsu: seek favor} the poor, and his hands will restore{tashavnah: make restitution} his wealth.
11 His bones{atsmotav: mortal frame} are filled with his youthful vigor, his youth, and with him it will lie down in the dust{afar: grave soil}.
12 If evil is sweet{tamtik: made pleasant} in his mouth, he hides{yakhkidenna: keeps concealed} it under his tongue.
13 Though he spares it {yakhmol: show pity} and does not abandon it, he holds it back in the midst of his palate {khikho: roof mouth}.
14 His food is turned in his inward parts, becoming the bitterness {merorat: bile-like poison} of serpents within him {qirbo: inner core}.
15 He swallowed riches, and he will vomit them up; God {El, Righteous Judge} will drive them out from his belly {beten: inner depths}.
16 He will suck the poison {rosh: deadly venom} of serpents {petanim: venomous snakes}; the tongue of a viper will kill him.
17 He will not see the streams, the rivers, the wadis {nachal: desert streambeds} of honey and curds {chemah: rich dairy}.
18 He returns{meshib: gives back} what he toiled for and does not swallow{yivla: consume it}; like the wealth of his exchange, he does not rejoice.
19 For he crushed and abandoned the poor {dallim: vulnerable poor}; a house he seized {gazal: violent theft}, yet he will not build it.
20 For he did not know quietness in his belly{bevitno: inner being}; he will not escape{yemallet: get away} with anything he desired.
21 There is no remnant {sarid: leftover portion} for him to eat; therefore {al-ken: for that reason} his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency{sipqo: enough supply}, distress will press him; every hand of misery{amel: painful hardship} will come upon him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will send into him the burning of His anger {yishallakh-bo: forceful incursion}, and He will rain it upon him into his body {bilkhumo: into his flesh}.
24 He will flee from an iron weapon {nesheq: deadly arms}, but a bronze arrow will pierce {chalaf: pass through} him.
25 He draws it out, and it comes out from his body; and a flash {barak: lightning flash} from his gall {merorah: bitter bile} goes forth. Terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness{choshekh: utter ruin} is hidden away for his treasures; fire not fanned{nuppakh: human stoking} will consume him; it will go ill for any survivor in his tent.
27 The heavens{shamayim: cosmic witness} will expose his iniquity{avon: culpable sin}; and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The increase {yevul: household yield} of his house will depart; it will flow away in the day of God's {Elohim, Righteous Judge} anger.
29 This is the portion {kheleq: allotted share} of a wicked man from God {Elohim, Just Dispenser}, and the inheritance of His decree from the Mighty One {El, Sovereign Determiner}.