¹ 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 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.