(Final speech by Zophar)

18 “But it is wicked people who are swept/carried away by floods,

and God curses the land that they own,

and no one goes to work in their vineyards.

19 Just like the snow melts away when it is hot and there is no rain,

those who have sinned disappear into the place where dead people are.

20 Not even their mothers remember them now;

wicked people are destroyed like trees that are cut down,

and maggots eat their corpses.

21 They mistreat women who have been unable to give birth to children and women who no longer have children to take care of them,

and they never do good things for widows.

22 But God, by his power, gets rid of mighty/influential people.

God acts and causes the wicked people to die.

23 God allows them to think that they are secure and safe,

but he is watching [MTY] them all the time.

24 They prosper for a little while,

and then suddenly they are gone;

they disappear like weeds wither and die;

they are like [SIM] stalks of grain that have been cut off.

25 If this is not true, is there [RHQ] anyone who will show that I am a liar

and prove that what I have said is not true?”