¹⁷ “I will show you, hear me;
    and what I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (what wise men have told,
    and their fathers have not hidden,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no stranger passed among them).
²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
²¹ Terrifying sounds are in his ears;
    in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
    and he is destined for the sword.
²³ He 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 prevail against him, like a king prepared for battle.
²⁵ Because he has stretched forth his hand against God,
    and bids defiance to the Almighty,
²⁶ running stubbornly against him
    with a thick-bossed shield;
²⁷ because he has covered his face with his fat,
    and gathered fat upon his loins,
²⁸ and has lived in desolate cities,
    in houses which no man should inhabit,
    which were destined to become heaps of ruins;
²⁹ he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will he strike root in the earth;^[a]
30 he will not escape from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and his blossom^[b] will be swept away^[c] by the wind.
³¹ Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
    for emptiness will be his recompense.
³² It will be paid in full 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 the company of the godless is barren,
    and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
    and their heart prepares deceit.”