² “Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer,
    and for this I make haste.
³ I have heard the rebuke that disgraces me,
    and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴ “Do you not know this of old,
    since man was placed upon earth,
⁵ that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
⁶ Though his loftiness extends to the heavens,
    and his head reaches to the clouds,
⁷ yet he will perish forever like his own excrement;
    those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like a dream and will not be found;
    yes, he will be chased away as a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more;
    nor will his place behold him anymore.
¹⁰ His children will seek favor from the poor,
    and his hands will give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
    but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
    and he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ though he spares it and does not forsake it,
    but keeps it in his mouth,
¹⁴ yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
    it becomes the venom of cobras within him.
¹⁵ He has swallowed down riches,
    and he will vomit them up again;
    God will cast them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
    the viper’s tongue will slay him.
¹⁷ He will not see the streams, the rivers,
    the brooks of honey and butter.
¹⁸ He will give back the produce of labor and will not swallow it down.
    According to his wealth the restitution will be, and he will not rejoice in it;
¹⁹ because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor.
    He has violently taken away a house that he did not build.

²⁰ “Because he knows no quietness in his belly,
    he will not save anything he desired.
²¹ Nothing is left for him to eat;
    therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²² In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
    every hand of misery will come upon him.
²³ When he is about to fill his belly,
    God will cast the fury of His wrath on him
    and will rain it on him while he is eating.
²⁴ He will flee from the iron weapon;
    a bronze bow will pierce him through.
²⁵ It is drawn and comes out of the body;
    yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.
Terrors are upon him.
²⁶     Total darkness is stored up for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
    what is left in his tent will be consumed.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The increase of his house will depart,
    and his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.
²⁹ This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
    and the inheritance appointed to him by God.”