20:4 “Surely you know 1 that it has been from old,
ever since humankind was placed 2 on the earth,
20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, 3
the joy of the godless 4 lasts but a moment. 5
20:6 Even though his stature 6 reaches to the heavens
and his head touches the clouds,
20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; 7
those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, 8
and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.
20:9 People 9 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 10 the poor;
his own hands 11 must return his wealth.
20:11 His bones 12 were full of his youthful vigor, 13
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 “If 14 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 15
20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 16
20:14 his food is turned sour 17 in his stomach; 18
it becomes the venom of serpents 19 within him.
20:15 The wealth that he consumed 20 he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out 21 of his stomach.
20:16 He sucks the poison 22 of serpents; 23
the fangs 24 of a viper 25 kill him.
20:17 He will not look on the streams, 26
the rivers, which are the torrents 27
of honey and butter. 28
20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain 29
without assimilating it; 30
he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. 31
20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; 32
he has seized a house which he did not build. 33
20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; 34
he does not let anything he desires 35 escape. 36
20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; 37
that is why his prosperity does not last. 38
20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, 39
distress 40 overtakes him.
the full force of misery will come upon him. 41
20:23 “While he is 42 filling his belly,
God 43 sends his burning anger 44 against him,
and rains down his blows upon him. 45