² “My ·troubled thoughts [distress; worries] cause me to ·answer [respond],
    because ·I am very upset [^Lof the agitation within me].
³ You ·correct [instruct] me and I am ·insulted [shamed],
    but ·I understand how to answer you [or a spirit beyond my understanding gives me an answer].

⁴ “·You [^LDo you not…?] know how it has been ·for a long time [since time immemorial],
    ever since ·people were first put [or he put people] on the earth.
⁵ The ·happiness [luxuriance; enjoyment] of evil people is brief,
    and the joy of the ·wicked [^Lgodless] lasts only a moment.
⁶ ·Their pride may be [^LThey may go] as high as the heavens,
    and their heads may touch the clouds,
⁷ but they will ·be gone [perish] forever, like their own dung.
    People who ·knew [^Lsaw] them will say, ‘Where are they?’
⁸ They will fly away like a dream
    and not be found again;
    they will be ·chased away [put to flight] like a vision in the night.
⁹ ·Those who [^LThe eye that] saw them will not see them again;
    the places where they lived will see them no more.
¹⁰ Their children will ·have to pay back [or run after] the poor,
    and ·they will have to give up [^Ltheir hand will return] their wealth.
¹¹ They had the strength of their youth in their bones,
    but it will lie with them in the dust of death.

¹² “Evil may taste sweet in their mouths,
    and they may hide it under their tongues.
¹³ They ·cannot stand to [^Lfight/linger over it and do not] let go of it;
    they ·keep it in their mouths [^Lhide it under their tongues].
¹⁴ But their food ·will turn sour [^Lturns over] in their stomachs,
    like the poison of a ·snake [asp] inside them.
¹⁵ They have swallowed riches, but they will ·spit [vomit] them out;
    God will make them ·vomit [disgorge] ·their riches up [^Lit from their bellies; Prov. 11:4; 21:6].
¹⁶ They will suck the poison of ·snakes [asps],
    and the ·snake’s fangs [^Lviper’s tongue] will kill them.
¹⁷ They will not ·admire [^Llook at] ·the sparkling streams [or streams of oil]
    or the rivers flowing with honey and ·cream [or butter; or curds].
¹⁸ They must give back ·what they worked for [their gains] ·without eating it [unswallowed];
    they will not enjoy the ·money they made from their trading [or benefit of their reward],
¹⁹ because they ·troubled the poor and left them with nothing [^Lcrushed and abandoned the poor].
    They have ·taken [stolen] houses they did not build [Prov. 28:27; 29:7].

²⁰ “Evil people never ·lack an appetite [^Lexperience ease/comfort in their bellies],
    and nothing ·escapes their selfishness [^Lthey covet escapes them].
²¹ But nothing will be left ·for them to eat [or after they eat];
    their riches will not continue.
²² When they still have plenty, ·trouble will catch up to them [^Lthey will have distress],
    and ·great misery [^Lall the force/hand of trouble] will come down on them.
²³ When the wicked fill their stomachs,
    God will send his burning anger against them,
    ·and blows of punishment will fall on them like rain [or raining it on them like their food].
²⁴ The wicked may run away from an iron weapon,
    but a bronze ·arrow [^Lbow] will ·stab [pierce] them.
²⁵ They will pull the arrows out of their backs
    and pull the points out of their ·livers [^Lgall bladders].
·Terrors [Dread] will come over them;
²⁶     total darkness ·waits for their treasure [or is stored up for them].
A fire not fanned by people [^Cperhaps lightning] will ·destroy [^Lconsume] them
    and ·burn up [^Lhorrible things will happen to] ·what is left of [or the survivors in] their tents.
²⁷ The heavens will ·show [reveal] their guilt,
    and the earth will rise up against them.
²⁸ ·A flood will carry their houses away [or The possessions of their house will be taken away],
    ·swept away [^Llike the torrents] on the day of God’s anger.
²⁹ This is ·what God plans for evil [^Lthe lot/fate of guilty] people;
    ·this is what he has decided they will receive [^Lthe inheritance decreed by God].”