² “The words you have spoken have caused me great distress,
    and as a result, I am forced to reply.
³ I have been outraged by your censure,
    but now a spirit beyond my understanding
    provides me with the answers to rebuke you.
⁴ “Surely you must know that since time began
    and man was first placed on the earth,
⁵ the triumph of the wicked has always been short-lived,
    and the joy of the sinner lasts only for a moment.
⁶ Even though in his pride he towers to the sky
    and his head touches the clouds,
⁷ he is destined to perish forever like his own dung,^[b]
    and those who used to see him will ask:
    ‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fade away like a dream and never be found again;
    he will vanish like a vision of the night.
⁹ The eyes that saw him will see him no more,
    and his dwelling will not behold him any longer.

¹⁰ “His children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and his hands will be forced to return his wealth.
¹¹ The youthful vigor that once filled his body
    will be stagnant with him in the earth.
¹² “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth
    and he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ though he continues to keep it in his mouth
    and is loath to let it go,
¹⁴ yet such food will turn sour in his stomach,
    working inside him like the venom of asps.
¹⁵ He wolfs down riches and then vomits them up;
    God forces him to disgorge them from his stomach.
¹⁶ “Such a person will suck the venom of asps;
    the tongue of a viper will slay him.
¹⁷ He will see no streams of oil
    or rivers flowing with honey and cream.^[c]
18 He will be forced to restore his gains without enjoying them;
    even though his wealth increased, he will derive no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute,
    seizing houses that he did not build.
²⁰ “Since his avarice could never be satisfied,
    no amount of hoarding will save him.
²¹ Since his greed was insatiable,
    his prosperity will not endure.
²² When he possesses everything he desires,
    his troubles will begin,
    and the full force of misery will strike him down.
²³ “God will unleash the fury of his wrath against him
    and rain down upon him a hail of arrows.
²⁴ If he escapes a weapon of iron,
    a bow of bronze will pierce him through.
²⁵ The tip of the arrow will protrude from his body
    and the glittering point will emerge from his bladder;
    terrors will descend upon him.
²⁶ “Unrelieved darkness is what awaits him;
    a fire^[d] that does not need to be fanned will devour him,
    and anything left in his tent will be consumed.
²⁷ The heavens will lay bare his iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ Flood waters will sweep away his house
    like the torrents on the day of God’s wrath.
²⁹ This is the lot that God reserves for the wicked,
    the heritage assigned to him by God.”