Job 20:4-18

4Don’t you know that ever since antiquity, from the time a human was placed on earth,

5the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?

6Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds,

7he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

8He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him.

10His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth.

11His frame may be full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in dust.

12Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

13though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth,

14yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him.

15He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach.

16He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him.

17He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds.

18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.