¹⁸ “You say, ^(A)‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.
¹⁹ Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does ^(B)Sheol those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
    the worm finds them sweet;
they are ^(C)no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like ^(D)a tree.’

²¹ “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.
²² Yet God^[a] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they are supported,
    and his ^(E)eyes are upon their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted ^(F)a little while, and then ^(G)are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are ^(H)cut off like the heads of grain.
²⁵ If it is ^(I)not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”