² How much longer are all of you going to keep hunting for words?^[a]
Come to your senses! Then we can talk.
³ Why are we considered to be like cattle?
Why are we regarded as unreasoning animals in your eyes?

⁴ You, who tear yourself to pieces with your anger,
do you expect the earth to be made desolate for your sake?
Should rocks be moved from their place for you?

⁵ The light of the wicked has been extinguished,
and not a spark of his flame still shines.
⁶ In his tent, light becomes darkness
when the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ His powerful strides are tangled up,
and his own plans bring him down.
⁸ Yes, his feet are caught in a net,
and he stumbles into its webbing.
⁹ A trap snaps at his heel,
and a snare catches him firmly.
¹⁰ A noose lies hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is set on his path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side.
They harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is eaten away by hunger,^[b]
and disaster is waiting for him to stumble.
¹³ It eats away pieces of his skin.
Death’s firstborn child eats away pieces of him.
¹⁴ He is torn away from the safety of his tent.
He is marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing that belonged to him remains in his tent.^[c]
Sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ All memory of him perishes from the earth.
No one on the street remembers his name.
¹⁸ He is pushed away from the light into the darkness.
He is chased out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no posterity or descendants among his people.
He leaves no survivor in his place, where he lived as an alien.
²⁰ People in the west shudder at his fate.
People in the east are overcome with horror.
²¹ Certainly this is the dwelling place for an evil man.
This is the place for one who does not acknowledge God.