3. You insulted me with your answers! But I am wise and know how to answer you.
4-5. “You know that the joy of the wicked does not last long. That has been true a long time, ever since Adam was put on earth. Those who don’t know God are happy for only a short time.
6. Maybe an evil man’s pride will reach up to the sky, and his head will touch the clouds.
7. But he will be gone forever like his own body waste. People who knew him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8. Like a dream, he will fly away, never to be found. He will be chased away like a bad dream.
9. Those who knew him before will not see him again. His family will never again get to see him.
10. His children will have to give back what he took from the poor. His own hands will give up his wealth.
11. When he was young, his bones were strong, but, like the rest of his body, they will soon lie in the dirt.
12. “Evil tastes sweet in his mouth. He keeps it under his tongue to enjoy it fully.
13. He hates to let it go and holds it in his mouth.
14. But that evil will turn sour in his stomach. It will be like a snake’s bitter poison inside him.
15. The evil man will spit out the riches he has swallowed. God will make him vomit them up.
16. What he drank will be like a snake’s poison; it will kill him like the bite of a deadly snake.
17. He will never again enjoy so much wealth— rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18. He will be forced to give back his profits. He will not be allowed to enjoy what he worked for,
19. because he hurt the poor and left them with nothing. He took houses he did not build.
20. “The evil man is never satisfied. But the things he wants cannot save him.
21. After filling himself, there is nothing left. His success will not continue.