| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, | 1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: |
| 2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. | 2This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset! |
| 3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. | 3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply. |
| 4Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, | 4Don't you know that ever since antiquity, from the time man was placed on earth, |
| 5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? | 5the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment? |
| 6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; | 6Though his arrogance reaches heaven, 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 vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, "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. | 8He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. |
| 9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. | 9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him. |
| 10His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. | 10His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth. |
| 11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. | 11His bones may be full of youthful vigor, but will lie down with him in the grave. |
| 12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; | 12Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, |
| 13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: | 13though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth, |
| 14Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. | 14yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras' venom inside him. |
| 15He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. | 15He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach. |
| 16He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. | 16He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper's fangs will kill him. |
| 17He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. | 17He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. |
| 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 must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn't enjoy the profits from his trading. |
| 19Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; | 19For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build. |
| 20Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. | 20Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape. |
| 21There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. | 21Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last. |
| 22In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. | 22At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush 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. | 23When he fills his stomach, God will send His burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating. |
| 24He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. | 24If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him. |
| 25It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. | 25He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip 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 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 heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. | 27The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. |
| 28The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. | 28The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God's anger. |
| 29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. | 29This is the wicked man's lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him. |
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