Read the Bible

² "Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,
or fill his belly with the east wind?
³ Does he argue with useless talk,
with words that have no value in them?
⁴ But you even break off piety,
and hinder meditation before God.
⁵ Your sin inspires your mouth;
you choose the language of the crafty.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.
⁷ "Were you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on God's secret council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we don't know?
What do you understand that we don't understand?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men far older than your father.
¹¹ Are God's consolations too trivial for you;
or a word spoken in gentleness to you?
¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ when you turn your rage against God
and allow such words to escape from your mouth?
¹⁴ What is man that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,
who drinks in evil like water!
¹⁷ "I will explain to you;
listen to me,
and what I have seen, I will declare,
¹⁸ what wise men declare,
hiding nothing,
from the tradition of their ancestors,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
²⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
throughout the number of the years
that are stored up for the tyrant.
²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
in a time of peace marauders attack him.
²² He does not expect to escape from darkness;
he is marked for the sword;
²³ he wanders about—food for vultures;
he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him
like a king ready to launch an attack,
²⁵ for he stretches out his hand against God,
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
²⁶ defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield!
²⁷ Because he covered his face with fat,
and made his hips bulge with fat,
²⁸ he lived in ruined towns
and in houses where no one lives,
where they are ready to crumble into heaps.
²⁹ He will not grow rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
³⁰ He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots
and he will depart
by the breath of God's mouth.
³¹ Let him not trust in what is worthless,
deceiving himself;
for worthlessness will be his reward.
³² Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
³³ Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,
and like an olive tree
he will shed his blossoms.
³⁴ For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;
their belly prepares deception."