201 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: 2 "Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me. 3 I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me. 4 Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth, 5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment? 6 Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds, 7 they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, "Where are they?' 8 They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night. 9 The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth. 11 Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them. 12 "Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues, 13 though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths, 14 yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them. 15 They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies. 16 They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them. 17 They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. 18 They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment. 19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build. 20 "They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape. 21 There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure. 22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.
23 To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food. 24 They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through. 25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them. 26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed. 27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them. 28 The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. 29 This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God."
31 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job said: 3 "Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, "A man-child is conceived.' 4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. 5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 That night-let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. 8 Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning- 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.
11 "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? 12 Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? 13 Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.
20 "Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21 who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; 22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? 24 For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25 Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."
