9. We know as much as you do! We understand as well as you.
10. The old, gray-haired men agree with us. People older than your father are on our side.
11. God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you. We have spoken his message to you in a gentle way.
12. Why will you not understand? Why can you not see the truth?
13. You are expressing your anger against God when you say these things.
14. “People cannot really be pure. They cannot be more right than God!
15. God does not even trust his angels. He does not even think the sky is pure.
16. People are even worse. They are disgusting and dirty. They drink up evil like water.
17. “Listen to me, and I will explain it to you. Let me tell you what I have seen.
18. I will tell you what wise men would say, things they heard from their fathers and then freely passed on. They didn’t hide any secrets from me.
19. These are important people in our country! Everyone knows who they are.
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.