20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, 1
the joy of the godless 2 lasts but a moment. 3
20:6 Even though his stature 4 reaches to the heavens
and his head touches the clouds,
20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; 5
those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, 6
and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.
20:9 People 7 who had seen him will not see him again,
and the place where he was
will recognize him no longer.
20:10 His sons must recompense 8 the poor;
his own hands 9 must return his wealth.
20:11 His bones 10 were full of his youthful vigor, 11
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 “If 12 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 13
20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 14
20:14 his food is turned sour 15 in his stomach; 16
it becomes the venom of serpents 17 within him.
20:15 The wealth that he consumed 18 he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out 19 of his stomach.
20:16 He sucks the poison 20 of serpents; 21
the fangs 22 of a viper 23 kill him.
20:17 He will not look on the streams, 24
the rivers, which are the torrents 25
of honey and butter. 26
20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain 27
without assimilating it; 28
he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. 29
20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; 30
he has seized a house which he did not build. 31
20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; 32
he does not let anything he desires 33 escape. 34
20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; 35
that is why his prosperity does not last. 36
20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, 37
distress 38 overtakes him.
the full force of misery will come upon him. 39
20:23 “While he is 40 filling his belly,
God 41 sends his burning anger 42 against him,
and rains down his blows upon him. 43
20:24 If he flees from an iron weapon,
then an arrow 44 from a bronze bow pierces him.
20:25 When he pulls it out 45 and it comes out of his back,
the gleaming point 46 out of his liver,
terrors come over him.
20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; 47
a fire which has not been kindled 48
will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.
20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;
the earth rises up against him.
20:28 A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
20:29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked,
and the heritage of his appointment 49 from God.”