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13 “This is what the wicked will receive from God;
    this is their inheritance from the Almighty.
14 They may have many children,
    but the children will die in war or starve to death.
15 Those who survive will die of a plague,
    and not even their widows will mourn them.

16 “Evil people may have piles of money
    and may store away mounds of clothing.
17 But the righteous will wear that clothing,
    and the innocent will divide that money.
18 The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,[a]
    as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
19 The wicked go to bed rich
    but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.
20 Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
    and they are blown away in the storms of the night.
21 The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.
    It sweeps them away.
22 It whirls down on them without mercy.
    They struggle to flee from its power.
23 But everyone jeers at them
    and mocks them.

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Footnotes

  1. 27:18 As in Greek and Syriac versions (see also 8:14); Hebrew reads a moth.

13 “This is the fate awaiting the wicked from the hand of the Almighty: 14 If he has a multitude of children, it is so that they will die in war or starve to death. 15 Those who survive shall be brought down to the grave by disease and plague, with no one to mourn them, not even their wives.

16 “The evil man may accumulate money like dust, with closets jammed full of clothing— 17 yes, he may order them made by his tailor, but the innocent shall wear that clothing and shall divide his silver among them. 18 Every house built by the wicked is as fragile as a spider web, as full of cracks as a leafy booth!

19 “He goes to bed rich but wakes up to find that all his wealth is gone. 20 Terror overwhelms him, and he is blown away in the storms of the night. 21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone. It sweeps him into eternity. 22 For God shall hurl at him unsparingly. He longs to flee from God. 23 Everyone will cheer at his death and boo him into eternity.

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