² “I must reply
    because I am greatly disturbed.
³ I’ve had to endure your insults,
    but now my spirit prompts me to reply.

⁴ “Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time,
    ever since people were first placed on the earth,
⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
    and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
⁶ Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens
    and their heads touch the clouds,
⁷ yet they will vanish forever,
    thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
    ‘Where are they?’
⁸ They will fade like a dream and not be found.
    They will vanish like a vision in the night.
⁹ Those who once saw them will see them no more.
    Their families will never see them again.
¹⁰ Their children will beg from the poor,
    for they must give back their stolen riches.
¹¹ Though they are young,
    their bones will lie in the dust.

¹² “They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
    letting it melt under their tongue.
¹³ They savored it,
    holding it long in their mouths.
¹⁴ But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
    a poisonous venom in their stomach.
¹⁵ They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
    God won’t let them keep it down.
¹⁶ They will suck the poison of cobras.
    The viper will kill them.
¹⁷ They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil
    or rivers of milk and honey.
¹⁸ They will give back everything they worked for.
    Their wealth will bring them no joy.
¹⁹ For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute.
    They foreclosed on their homes.
²⁰ They were always greedy and never satisfied.
    Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.
²¹ Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves.
    Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.

²² “In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble
    and be overcome by misery.
²³ May God give them a bellyful of trouble.
    May God rain down his anger upon them.
²⁴ When they try to escape an iron weapon,
    a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
²⁵ The arrow is pulled from their back,
    and the arrowhead glistens with blood.^[a]
The terrors of death are upon them.
²⁶     Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness.
A wildfire will devour their goods,
    consuming all they have left.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal their guilt,
    and the earth will testify against them.
²⁸ A flood will sweep away their house.
    God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.
²⁹ This is the reward that God gives the wicked.
    It is the inheritance decreed by God.”

“I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you.”^[b]

“The Lord is my helper,
    so I will have no fear.
    What can mere people do to me?”^[c]