20. And they said that an evil man suffers all his life. A cruel man suffers all his numbered years.
21. Every noise scares him. His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe.
22. An evil man has no hope of escaping the darkness. There is a sword somewhere waiting to kill him.
23. He wanders from place to place, looking for food. But he knows a dark day is coming, which he brought on himself.
24. He lives in fear, with worry and suffering threatening him like a king ready to attack.
25. That is because that evil man shook his fist at God, refusing to obey. He dared to attack God All-Powerful,
26. like a soldier with a thick, strong shield who runs at his enemy to strike him in the neck.
27. He might be rich and fat,
28. but his town will be ruined; his home will be destroyed; his house will be empty.
29. He will not be rich for long. His wealth will not last. His crops will not grow large.
30. He will not escape the darkness. He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease and are blown away by the wind.
31. That evil man should not fool himself by trusting in worthless things, because he will keep nothing.
32. He will die before his time, like a tree whose top branches have already begun to die.
33. He will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen. He will be like an olive tree that loses its buds.