¹⁷ “Listen to me and I will explain to you;
    let me tell you what I have seen,^(A)
18 what the wise have declared,
    hiding nothing received from their ancestors^(B)
19 (to whom alone the land^(C) was given
    when no foreigners moved among them):
²⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment,^(D)
    the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.^(E)
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;^(F)
    when all seems well, marauders attack him.^(G)
22 He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;^(H)
    he is marked for the sword.^(I)
23 He wanders about^(J) for food like a vulture;^(K)
    he knows the day of darkness^(L) is at hand.^(M)
24 Distress and anguish^(N) fill him with terror;^(O)
    troubles overwhelm him, like a king^(P) poised to attack,
²⁵ because he shakes his fist^(Q) at God
    and vaunts himself against the Almighty,^(R)