Job 15:17-35

English Standard Version

¹⁷ “I will show you; hear me,
    and what I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (what wise men have told,
    without hiding it ^(A)from their fathers,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no ^(B)stranger passed among them).
²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the ^(C)years that are laid up for ^(D)the ruthless.
^21 (E)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
    in ^(F)prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
    and he is marked for the sword.
²³ He ^(G)wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
    He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
²⁴ distress and anguish terrify him;
    they ^(H)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God
    and defies the Almighty,
^26 (I)running ^(J)stubbornly against him
    with a thickly bossed shield;
²⁷ because he has ^(K)covered his face with his fat
    and gathered fat upon his waist
²⁸ and has lived in desolate cities,
    in houses that none should inhabit,
    which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
²⁹ he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will his possessions spread over the earth;^[a]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and by ^(L)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
³¹ Let him not ^(M)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
³² It will be paid in full ^(N)before his time,
    and his branch will not be green.
³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
    and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
³⁴ For ^(O)the company of the godless is barren,
    and ^(P)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They ^(Q)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
    and their ^(R)womb prepares deceit.”