Job 15:20-35 - The Tortured Life Of The Wicked Person
20
“The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for him, the ruthless one.
“A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears;
While at peace and in a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].
“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].
“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.
“Distress and anxiety terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for battle.
“Because he has stretched out his hand against God
And behaves arrogantly against
Running and charging headlong against Him
With his ornamented and massive shield;
For he has covered his face with his fat,
Adding layers of fat to his thighs [giving himself up to pleasures],
And he has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities,
In houses which no one should inhabit,
Which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];
He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his grain will not bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.
“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.
“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;
For emptiness will be his
“It will be fulfilled while he still lives,
And his branch will not be green [but shall wither away].
“He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,
And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.
“For the company of the godless is barren,
And fire consumes the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).
“They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,
And their inmost soul prepares deceit and fraud.”