Immerse: Poets Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 306
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IMMERSE
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POETS
You should fear punishment yourselves,
for your attitude deserves punishment.
Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
“I must reply
because I am greatly disturbed.
I’ve had to endure your insults,
but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
“Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time,
ever since people were first placed on the earth,
the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens
and their heads touch the clouds,
yet they will vanish forever,
thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
‘Where are they?’
They will fade like a dream and not be found.
They will vanish like a vision in the night.
Those who once saw them will see them no more.
Their families will never see them again.
Their children will beg from the poor,
for they must give back their stolen riches.
Though they are young,
their bones will lie in the dust.
“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
letting it melt under their tongue.
They savored it,
holding it long in their mouths.
But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
a poisonous venom in their stomach.
They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
God won’t let them keep it down.
They will suck the poison of cobras.
The viper will kill them.
They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil
or rivers of milk and honey.
19:29–20:17
