20 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2 

“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

    because I am greatly disturbed.

3 

I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,

    and my understanding inspires me to reply.

4 

“Surely you know how it has been from of old,

    ever since mankind[a] was placed on the earth,

5 

that the mirth of the wicked is brief,

    the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

6 

Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens

    and his head touches the clouds,

7 

he will perish forever, like his own dung;

    those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 

Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found,

    banished like a vision of the night.

9 

The eye that saw him will not see him again;

    his place will look on him no more.

10 

His children must make amends to the poor;

    his own hands must give back his wealth.

11 

The youthful vigor that fills his bones

    will lie with him in the dust.