Study Desk

The tents of the destroyers are at peace, and there is security for those who provoke God, for those whom God brings into his hand.

"Strength and sound wisdom are with him; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Will not his majesty terrify you, and his dread fall upon you?

If his days are determined, the number of his months is with you; you have appointed his boundaries, and he cannot cross them.

Look away from him, and let him desist until he enjoys his days like a laborer.

You overpower him forever, and he passes away; you change his countenance, then you send him away.

His children may come to honor, but he does not know it; or they may become lowly, but he does not realize it.

He feels only the pain of his own body, and his inner self mourns for him."

"Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and should he fill his stomach with the east wind?

Look, he does not trust his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes.

Sounds of terror are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come against him.

Because he stretched out his hand against God, and he was arrogant to Shaddai;

he stubbornly runs against him with his thick-bossed shield.

"Because he has covered his face with his fat and has gathered fat upon his loins,

He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure, and their possessions will not stretch across the earth.

"He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his new shoot, and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.

Let him not trust in emptiness—he will be deceiving himself— for worthlessness will be his recompense.

It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

"He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine, and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree;

His wrath has torn, and he has been hostile toward me; he gnashed at me with his teeth. My foe sharpens his eyes against me.