27 Don’t brag about tomorrow,
    since you don’t know what the day will bring.

³⁵ I have seen wicked and ruthless people
    flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
³⁶ But when I looked again, they were gone!
    Though I searched for them, I could not find them!

²² He followed her at once,
    like an ox going to the slaughter.
He was like a stag caught in a trap,^[a]
23     awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart.
He was like a bird flying into a snare,
    little knowing it would cost him his life.

⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
    and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
⁶ Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens
    and their heads touch the clouds,
⁷ yet they will vanish forever,
    thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
    ‘Where are they?’
⁸ They will fade like a dream and not be found.
    They will vanish like a vision in the night.

¹² While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut,
    they begin to wither more quickly than grass.
¹³ The same happens to all who forget God.
    The hopes of the godless evaporate.