15:2 Does a wise man answer with windy bluster? Does he fill his belly with the hot east wind?
15:3 Does he support his arguments with useless talk, with words that provide no benefit?
15:4 But you even tear down reverence. You hinder thoughtful reflection in the presence of God.
15:5 Your guilt instructs your mouth. You choose deceptive language.
15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine. Your own lips testify against you.
15:7 Were you the first man to be born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8 Do you listen in on the council meetings of God? Do you lay claim to all wisdom for yourself?
15:9 What do you know that we do not know as well? What do you understand that we do not?
15:10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men older than your father.
15:11 Are the consolations of God too small for you? Do you think nothing of the gentle words spoken to you?
15:12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash with such anger?
15:13 Why do you turn your spirit against God? Why do you allow such words to pour out of your mouth?
15:14 What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be declared righteous?
15:15 If God does not trust in his holy ones, and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
15:16 how much less man who is repulsive and corrupt, who drinks down injustice like water!
15:17 Let me instruct you! Listen to me! This is what I have seen. Let me tell you about it.
15:18 This is what wise men have declared, wise men who hid nothing of what they had received from their fathers,
15:19 to whom alone the land was given, at a time when no foreigners were present in their midst.
15:20 Through all his days, a wicked man writhes in pain, throughout the whole number of years stored up for a tyrant.
15:21 Terrifying sounds echo in his ears. In peacetime the plunderer arrives.
15:22 The wicked man does not believe that he will return from darkness. He is sentenced to the sword.
15:23 He wanders around looking for food and asks, “Where is it?” He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
15:24 Pressure and distress terrify him. They overpower him, like a king ready to attack,
15:25 because he has stretched out his hand against God, and he has been arrogant toward the Almighty.
15:26 He charges at him defiantly with a thick shield.
15:27 Though now his face is covered with its fat, and his hips bulge with lard,
15:28 he will live in ruined cities, in abandoned houses, reduced to rubble.
15:29 He will no longer be rich. His wealth will not last. His possessions will no longer cover the ground.
15:30 He will not escape from darkness. Flames will dry up his shoots. With a breath from God’s mouth, he will depart.
15:31 He should not trust in useless things. He should not fool himself. His only reward will be useless things.
15:32 Before his time, he will be paid in full. His palm branches will not be green.
15:33 His grapes will be shaken from the vine before they are ripe. He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
15:34 In the end, the community of the godless produces nothing, and fire consumes the tents of those who take bribes.
15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster. Their womb produces treachery.
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