1    2   
Job, you upset me. Now I'm impatient to answer.

3   
  What you have said is an insult,
  but I know how to reply to you.

4   
Surely you know that from ancient times,
  when man was first placed on earth,

5   
  no wicked man has been happy for long.

6   
He may grow great, towering to the sky,
  so great that his head reaches the clouds,

7   
  but he will be blown away like dust.
Those who used to know him
  will wonder where he has gone.

8   
He will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night,
  and never be seen again. ^note

9   
He will disappear from the place where he used to live;

10   
  and his sons will make good what he stole from the poor.

11   
His body used to be young and vigorous,
  but soon it will turn to dust.

12    13   
Evil tastes so good to him
  that he keeps some in his mouth to enjoy its flavor.

14   
But in his stomach the food turns bitter,
  as bitter as any poison could be.

15   
The wicked man vomits up the wealth he stole;
  God takes it back, even out of his stomach.

16   
What the evil man swallows is like poison;
  it kills him like the bite of a deadly snake.

17   
He will not live to see rivers of olive oil ^note
  or streams that flow with milk and honey.

18   
He will have to give up all he has worked for;
  he will have no chance to enjoy his wealth,

19   
  because he oppressed and neglected the poor

  and seized houses someone else had built.

20   
His greed is never satisfied.

21   
When he eats, there is nothing left over,
  but now his prosperity comes to an end.

22   
At the height of his success
  all the weight of misery will crush him.

23   
Let him eat all he wants!
  God will punish him in fury and anger.

24   
When he tries to escape from an iron sword,
  a bronze bow will shoot him down. ^note

25   
An arrow sticks through his body;
  its shiny point drips with his blood,
  and terror grips his heart.

26   
Everything he has saved is destroyed;
  a fire not lit by human hands
  burns him and all his family.

27   
Heaven reveals this man's sin,
  and the earth gives testimony against him.

28   
All his wealth will be destroyed
  in the flood of God's anger.

29   
This is the fate of wicked men,
  the fate that God assigns to them.

Previous section

Next section