² Does a wise man answer with windy bluster?
Does he fill his belly with the hot east wind?
³ Does he support his arguments with useless talk,
with words that provide no benefit?

⁴ But you even tear down reverence.
You hinder thoughtful reflection in the presence of God.
⁵ Your guilt instructs your mouth.
You choose deceptive language.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine.
Your own lips testify against you.
⁷ Were you the first man to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on the council meetings of God?
Do you lay claim to all wisdom for yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know as well?
What do you understand that we do not?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you?
Do you think nothing of the gentle words spoken to you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash with such anger?
¹³ Why do you turn your spirit against God?
Why do you allow such words to pour out of your mouth?

¹⁴ What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be declared righteous?
¹⁵ If God does not trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less man who is repulsive and corrupt,
who drinks down injustice like water!
¹⁷ Let me instruct you! Listen to me!
This is what I have seen. Let me tell you about it.
¹⁸ This is what wise men have declared,
wise men who hid nothing of what they had received from their fathers,
¹⁹     to whom alone the land was given,
        at a time when no foreigners were present in their midst.
²⁰ Through all his days, a wicked man writhes in pain,
throughout the whole number of years stored up for a tyrant.
²¹ Terrifying sounds echo in his ears.
In peacetime the plunderer arrives.
²² The wicked man does not believe that he will return from darkness.
He is sentenced to the sword.
²³ He wanders around looking for food and asks, “Where is it?”^[a]
He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Pressure and distress terrify him.
They overpower him, like a king ready to attack,
²⁵ because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and he has been arrogant toward the Almighty.
²⁶ He charges at him defiantly^[b] with a thick shield.
²⁷ Though now his face is covered with its fat,
and his hips bulge with lard,
²⁸ he will live in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses, reduced to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich.
His wealth will not last.
His possessions will no longer cover the ground.
³⁰ He will not escape from darkness.
Flames will dry up his shoots.
With a breath from God’s mouth, he will depart.
³¹ He should not trust in useless things.
He should not fool himself.
His only reward will be useless things.
³² Before his time, he will be paid in full.
His palm branches will not be green.
³³ His grapes will be shaken from the vine before they are ripe.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
³⁴ In the end, the community of the godless produces nothing,
and fire consumes the tents of those who take bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
Their womb produces treachery.