Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer
1 Then cZophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Therefore my dthoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old,
esince man was placed on earth,
5 fthat the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 gThough his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
7 he will perish forever like his own hdung;
those who have seen him will say, i‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly away like ja dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 kThe eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will lgive back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his myouthful vigor,
but it will lie ndown with him in the dust.
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it ounder his tongue,
13 though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
14 yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of pcobras within him.
15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
qthe tongue of a viper will kill him.
17 He will not look upon rthe rivers,
the streams flowing with shoney and tcurds.
18 He will ugive back the fruit of his toil
and will not vswallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.
20 “Because he wknew no xcontentment in his belly,
yhe will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
21 There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
23 To fill his belly to the full,
God1 will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him zinto his body.
29 jThis is the wicked man’s portion from God,
jthe heritage decreed for him by God.”
21 So he said to them again, f“I am going away, and gyou will seek me, and hyou will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, i“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, j“You are from below; I am from above. kYou are of this world; lI am not of this world. 24 I told you that you mwould die in your sins, for nunless you believe that oI am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, p“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but qhe who sent me is true, and I declare rto the world swhat I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that the had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have ulifted up the Son of Man, vthen you will know that wI am he, and that xI do nothing on my own authority, but yspeak just as the Father taught me. 29 And zhe who sent me is with me. zHe has not left me alone, for aI always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, bmany believed in him.
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, c“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will dknow the truth, and the truth ewill set you free.” 33 They answered him, f“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, geveryone who practices sin is a slave1 to sin. 35 hThe slave does not remain in the house forever; ithe son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet jyou seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 kI speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard lfrom your father.”
