^20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite, answering, said:
^20:2 Therefore my various thoughts follow one another, and my mind is carried off in different directions.
^20:3 I will hear the teaching by which you rebuke me, and the spirit of my understanding will answer me.
^20:4 This I know from the beginning, from when man was placed upon the earth:
^20:5 that the praise of the impious is brief, and the joy of the hypocrite like a point.
^20:6 If his pride ascends even to heaven and his head touches the clouds,
^20:7 in the end he will perish like a dunghill, and those who had seen him will say: Where is he?
^20:8 Like a dream flying away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a vision of the night.
^20:9 The eye that had seen him will not see him, nor will his place behold him any longer.
^20:10 His sons will be worn down by want, and his hands will render to him his own sorrow.
^20:11 His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
^20:12 For when evil has been sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
^20:13 He will spare it and will not leave it, and he will conceal it in his throat.

298. Then Zophar the Naamathite, answering, said: Therefore my thoughts, etc. Zophar, having heard Job’s judgment concerning the hope of future life, seems to have acquiesced; hence after this, his second response, he contradicted nothing a third time. Yet there was still something in his heart that did not allow him to withdraw completely from his prior judgment: for he thought that, even if in the future life retributions and punishments were made according to merits, as he had learned from Job, nevertheless it still seemed to him that the prosperities and adversities of this life were dispensed to men by God according to the merit of virtues or sins. And therefore, as one in part convinced and in part still retaining his first judgment, he says: Therefore, namely, because of the words that you speak concerning the hope of future life, my various thoughts follow one another. And so that thoughts of this kind may not be understood as pertaining to the same judgment, as when someone thinks up various reasons for the same conclusion, he adds: and my mind is carried off in different directions; namely, by the force of the reasons that can be brought in for either judgment, I am led now to one, now to the other, as though I were not sufficient to solve the contrary arguments. For it seemed to him that Job’s judgment concerning the hope of future life should not be rejected, and therefore he adds: I will hear the teaching by which you rebuke me, namely, by believing what you have said concerning the future resurrection; yet I still do not totally abandon the first judgment, and this is what he adds: and the spirit of my understanding will answer me, as if to say: my understanding still has something to answer on behalf of its judgment.

299. But this seemed most certain to him and proved by experience: that the wicked, even if they rejoice in some prosperity, nevertheless that prosperity is brief and is quickly ended even in this life, either by a hasty death or by some adversity that follows. And this is what he adds: This I know, considering, namely, from the beginning, from when man was placed upon the earth, as though he were saying, from the beginning of the human race, that the praise of the impious is brief: for they are sometimes praised for a little while because of some signs and beginnings of goodness that appear in them, but these are at once overshadowed by the iniquitous works that appear in them, and therefore the joy that they have from the favor they gain by their pretense quickly passes away,

and this is what he adds: and the joy of the hypocrite like a point, as though it will pass away in a moment, because afterwards he is known from his fruits, as is said in Matthew 7:16. For sometimes it happens that, from that favor which for a brief time he captured by his pretense, he is raised up to some high state; hence he consequently shows that even this will not be stable for him, saying: If his pride ascends even to heaven, that is, if because of the high state he has obtained he ascends into such pride that he does not reckon himself perishable as earthly, but immovable as heavenly, and his head touches the clouds, namely, so that he is advanced beyond the common state of men, in the end he will perish like a dunghill, either by hasty death, from which the human corpse is rendered vile and abominable like dung, according to Jeremiah 9:22: The corpse of man will fall like dung upon the face of the land, or by the fact that his malice will be uncovered and he will be reputed vile by all, according to Sirach 9:10: Every woman who is a fornicator will be trampled like dung in the street. But once his pride has been cast down, astonishment will arise in the hearts of men at so sudden a downfall, and the reverence that was had for him will cease; hence there follows: and those who had seen him will say: Where is he?, either in wonder or in contempt.

300. And to show that his downfall is irreparable, he adds: Like a dream flying away, he will not be found; for just as a bird, by flying away, is easily removed from the eyes of men, so also dreams are easily removed from human knowledge. And because no trace of them remains, or only a weak one, nor any testimony by which, if lost, they could be sought again, therefore knowledge of them passes irreparably; and similarly he gives it to be understood that the fall of the impious is irreparable.

And he shows that the cause of this irreparability is manifold:

first indeed, on the part of the sinner himself who perishes, whence it is said: he will pass away like a vision of the night, which indeed is the vision of a phantasm that does not remain, and therefore, after it has ceased, a return to it cannot be had. But a vision by day is of some permanent thing, and if someone has ceased to see it, he can return again to see it; and similarly, as long as the sinner remains, if adversity comes upon him, restoration can be hoped for, but when he has passed from this life, no further restoration is hoped for.

Second, from the part of other men, he shows that his fall is irreparable when he adds: The eye that had seen him will not see him; for things that depart from the eyes easily pass also from memory, whence the dead, who are withdrawn from human sight, are easily handed over to oblivion, so that thus they may have no glory in the memories of men, nor may their friends take care to provide help any longer.

Third, he shows the cause of his irreparability, because he cannot return to his former state, whence he adds: nor will his place behold him any longer; for man cannot return after death to the same manner of living. And not only will he himself be cast down, passing away in his own person and withdrawn from the eyes of men, never to be restored to his own place, but even his sons will be punished for his sin; hence there follows: His sons will be worn down by want, namely, by the just judgment of God, so that, because he sinned for the riches of his sons, in this also he may be frustrated in his hope, his sons having been made poor.

301. Then, as though now acquiescing in Job’s judgment, he adds also concerning the punishments of the future life, saying: and his hands will render to him his own sorrow, that is, for the works of sins that he did, he will suffer sorrow in punishments. And that this recompense of sorrow is to be understood after death appears from what is added: His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust, as if to say: even after death, when his flesh is resolved into dust, with only his bones remaining in the tomb, he will suffer punishment for sins, not only those he committed in old age, but also those he committed in youth, which is more headlong toward sinning. And he shows the cause why he is punished for sins even after death, adding: For when evil has been sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue; and he speaks by likeness to a man eating sweet food, who does not swallow it quickly but holds it for a long time in his mouth so that he may be delighted longer. Hence, explaining this likeness, he adds: He will spare it, namely, the evil or sin that is sweet to him, not wishing to destroy it; but he would destroy it by forsaking it, whence there follows: and he does not leave it. But why he does not leave it, he shows, adding: and he will conceal it in his throat, that is, he will manifest it to no one, and on account of this no one will dissuade him from the hidden sin or apply any remedy, which is applied to those who confess their sins. This, therefore, is the cause why someone’s sins are punished after death: because he was unwilling to leave them behind in life.