Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

The firstborn of death devoureth the members of his body; it will devour his members.

His confidence shall be rooted out of his tent, and it shall lead him away to the king of terrors:

They who are none of his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation:

His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off;

He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

He hath neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining in the places of his sojourn.

Surely, such are the dwellings of the unrighteous man, and such the place of him that knoweth not God.

If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach,

Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.

My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my mother's womb.

My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of +God hath touched me.

And if after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see +God;

If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me,

Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Knowest thou not this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,

The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment?

He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.

His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.

His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust.

His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him.

He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall kill him.

He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter.

Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired.

In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.

If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.

He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger.

This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.

Even when I think thereon, I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them.

They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

And they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!

What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows to them in his anger?

+God layeth up the punishment of his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it:

His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.

For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;

And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:

For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.

The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if thou art righteous? And is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Will he reason with thee for fear of thee? Will he enter with thee into judgment?

For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.

But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it.

Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.

Is not +God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.

Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood;

Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,

And put the precious ore with the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrents,

When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.

Even him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.

Therefore am I troubled at his presence; I consider, and I am afraid of him.

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.

They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge;

They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves.

They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked;

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ...

They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety.

And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on his face.

For the morning is to them all as the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards.

He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all other are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

Is there any number of his troops? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

And how should man be just with God? Or how should he be clean that is born of a woman?

How much less man, a worm, and the son of man, a worm!

He covereth the face of his throne, he spreadeth his cloud upon it.

He hath traced a fixed circle over the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness.

The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.

Lo, these are the borders of his ways; but what a whisper of a word do we hear of him! And the thunder of his power, who can understand?

All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of +God is in my nostrils,

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart reproacheth me not one of my days.

For what is the hope of the ungodly, when God cutteth him off, when +God taketh away his soul?

I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

This is the portion of the wicked man with God, and the heritage of the violent, which they receive from the Almighty: --

If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread;

Those that remain of him shall be buried by death, and his widows shall not weep.

The east wind carrieth him away and he is gone; and as a storm it hurleth him out of his place.

And God shall cast upon him and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is molten out of the stone.

Man putteth an end to the darkness, and exploreth to the utmost limit, the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death.

He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover.

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire;

The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.