² Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
^[a]Even by reason of my haste that is in me.
³ I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame;
^[b]And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
⁴ Knowest thou not this of old time,
Since man was placed upon earth,
⁵ That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
⁶ Though his height mount up to the heavens,
And his head reach unto the clouds;
⁷ Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?
⁸ He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found:
Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye which saw him shall see him no more;
Neither shall his place any more behold him.
^10 [c]His children shall seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands shall give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his youth,
But it shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹² Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue,
¹³ Though he spare it, and will not let it go,
But keep it still within his mouth;
¹⁴ Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
It is the gall of asps within him.
¹⁵ He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again;
God will cast them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He shall suck the poison of asps:
The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
¹⁷ He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
¹⁸ That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
According to the substance ^[d]that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
¹⁹ For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He hath violently taken away a house, ^[e]and he shall not build it up.

²⁰ Because he knew no quietness ^[f]within him,
He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
²¹ There was nothing left that he devoured not;
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
^23 [g]When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,
And will rain it upon him ^[h]while he is eating.
²⁴ He shall flee from the iron weapon,
And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
²⁵ He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;
Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:
Terrors are upon him.
²⁶ All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
A fire not blown by man shall devour him;
^[i]It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,
And the earth shall rise up against him.
²⁸ The increase of his house shall depart;
His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
²⁹ This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.