1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: 2“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me. 3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply. 4Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth, 5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary? 6Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, 7he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ 8He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. 9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him. 10His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth. 11The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust. 12Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, 13though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, 14yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him. 15He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach. 16He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him. 17He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. 18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading. 19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. 20Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. 21Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure. 22In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him. 23When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats. 24Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him. 25It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him. 26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. 27The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. 28The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath. 29This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Zophar speaks of the short joy of the wicked. (1-9) The ruin of the wicked. (10-22) The portion of the wicked. (23-29) 1-9 Zophar's discourse is upon the certain misery of the wicked. The triumph of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite are fleeting. The pleasures and gains of sin bring disease and pain; they end in remorse, anguish, and ruin. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will be accordingly. 10-22 The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it. 23-29 Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, #Isa 32:2|. Zophar concludes, "This is the portion of a wicked man from God;" it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful.