² “Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and should he fill his stomach with the east wind?
³ Should he argue in talk that is not profitable
or in words with which he cannot do good?
⁴ “What is worse,^[b] you yourself^[c] are doing away with fear,
and you are lessening meditation before^[d] God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your mouth condemns you, and not I;
and your lips testify against you.
⁷ “Were you born the firstborn of the human race?
And were you brought forth before^[e] the hills?
⁸ Have you listened in God’s confidential discussion?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the old are among us—
those older than your father.^[f]
11 “Are the consolations of God too small for you,
a word spoken gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away?
And why do your eyes flash,
¹³ that you turn your spirit against God,
and you let such words go out of your mouth?
¹⁴ “What is a human being, that he can be clean,
or^[g] that one born of a woman can be righteous?
¹⁵ Look, he does not trust his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his eyes.
¹⁶ How much less^[h] he who is abominable and corrupt,^[i]
a man drinking wickedness like water.
¹⁷ “I will show you, listen to me;
and what I have seen, I will tell^[j]—
¹⁸ what wise men have told,
and they have not hidden that which is from their ancestors,
¹⁹ to whom alone^[k] the land was given,
and no stranger passed through their midst.
²⁰ “All of the wicked one’s days he is writhing,
even^[l] through the number of years that are laid up for the tyrant.
²¹ Sounds of terror are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come against him.
²² He cannot trust that he will return^[m] from darkness,
and he himself^[n] is destined for the sword.
²³ “He is wandering for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand.^[o]
24 Anguish and distress terrify him;
they^[p] overpower him like a king ready for the battle.
²⁵ Because he stretched out his hand against God,
and he was arrogant to Shaddai;
²⁶ he stubbornly^[q] runs against him
with his thick-bossed shield.^[r]
27 “Because he has covered his face with his fat
and has gathered fat upon his loins,
²⁸ he will dwell^[s] in desolate cities,
in houses that they should not inhabit,
which are destined for rubble.
²⁹ He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure,
and their possessions will not stretch across the earth.^[t]
30 “He will not escape from darkness;
a flame will dry up his new shoot,
and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.
³¹ Let him not trust in emptiness—he will be deceiving himself—
for worthlessness will be his recompense.
³² It will be paid in full before his time,^[u]
and his branch will not flourish.
³³ “He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine,
and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree;
³⁴ for the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and bring forth mischief,
and their womb prepares deceit.”