4“Do you know this from of old,
         From the establishment of man on earth,

5That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
         And the joy of the godless momentary?

6“Though his loftiness reaches the heavens,
         And his head touches the clouds,

7He perishes forever like his refuse;
         Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8“He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him;
         Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

9“The eye which saw him sees him no longer,
         And his place no longer beholds him.

10“His sons favor the poor,
         And his hands give back his wealth.

11“His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
         But it lies down with him in the dust.

12“Though evil is sweet in his mouth
         And he hides it under his tongue,

13Though he desires it and will not let it go,
         But holds it in his mouth,

14Yet his food in his stomach is changed
         To the venom of cobras within him.

15“He swallows riches,
         But will vomit them up;
         God will expel them from his belly.

16“He sucks the poison of cobras;
         The viper’s tongue slays him.

17“He does not look at the streams,
         The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

18“He returns what he has attained
         And cannot swallow it;
         As to the riches of his trading,
         He cannot even enjoy them.

19“For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor;
         He has seized a house which he has not built.

20“Because he knew no quiet within him,
         He does not retain anything he desires.

21“Nothing remains for him to devour,
         Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

22“In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped;
         The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

23“When he fills his belly,
         God will send His fierce anger on him
         And will rain it on him while he is eating.

24“He may flee from the iron weapon,
         But the bronze bow will pierce him.

25“It is drawn forth and comes out of his back,
         Even the glittering point from his gall.
         Terrors come upon him,

26Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures,
         And unfanned fire will devour him;
         It will consume the survivor in his tent.

27“The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
         And the earth will rise up against him.

28“The increase of his house will depart;
         His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger.

29“This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
         Even the heritage decreed to him by God.”

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Knowest thou not this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth,

Douay-Rheims Bible
This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

Darby Bible Translation
Knowest thou not this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,

English Revised Version
Knowest thou not this of old time, since man was placed upon earth,

Webster's Bible Translation
Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

World English Bible
Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

Young's Literal Translation
This hast thou known from antiquity? Since the placing of man on earth?June 9 Evening
The triumphing of the wicked is short.--JOB 20:5. Thou shalt bruise his heel.--This is your hour, and the power of darkness.--As the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.--Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Christian Urged To, and Assisted In, an Express Act of Self-Dedication to the Service of God.
1. The advantages of such a surrender are briefly suggested.-- 2, 3, 4. Advice for the manner of doing it; that it be deliberate, cheerful, entire, perpetual.--5. And that it be expressed with some affecting solemnity.--6. A written instrument to be signed and declared before God, at some season of extraordinary devotion, reposed. The chapter concludes with a specimen of such an instrument, together with an abstract of it, to be used with proper and requisite alterations. 1. AS I would hope, that, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Whether the Ashes from which the Human Body Will be Restored have any Natural Inclination Towards the Soul which Will be United to Them?
Objection 1: It would seem that the ashes from which the human body will be restored will have a natural inclination towards the soul which will be united to them. For if they had no inclination towards the soul, they would stand in the same relation to that soul as other ashes. Therefore it would make no difference whether the body that is to be united to that soul were restored from those ashes or from others: and this is false. Objection 2: Further, the body is more dependent on the soul than …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

God.
GLORY OF GOD. God is the chief good--good so as nothing is but himself. He is in himself most happy; yea, all good and all true happiness are only to be found in God, as that which is essential to his nature; nor is there any good or any happiness in or with any creature or thing but what is communicated to it by God. God is the only desirable good; nothing without him is worthy of our hearts. Right thoughts of God are able to ravish the heart; how much more happy is the man that has interest in …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

The Hardening Operation of Love.
"Being grieved for the hardness of their heart."--Mark iii. 5. Love may also be reversed. Failing to cherish, to uplift, and to enrich, it consumes and destroys. This is a mystery which man can not fathom. It belongs to the unsearchable depths of the divine Being, of which we do not wish to know more than has been revealed. But this does not alter the fact. No creature can exclude itself from the divine control. No man can say that he has nothing to do with God; that he or any other creature exists …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men
WHEN St. Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus about his duty as a minister, he mentioned young men as a class requiring peculiar attention. After speaking of aged men and aged women, and young women, he adds this pithy advice, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded" (Tit. 2:6). I am going to follow the Apostle's advice. I propose to offer a few words of friendly exhortation to young men. I am growing old myself, but there are few things I remember so well as the days of my youth. I have a most …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

The Barren Fig-Tree;
OR, THE DOOM AND DOWNFALL OF THE FRUITLESS PROFESSOR: SHOWING, THAT THE DAY OF GRACE MAY BE PAST WITH HIM LONG BEFORE HIS LIFE IS ENDED; THE SIGNS ALSO BY WHICH SUCH MISERABLE MORTALS MAY BE KNOWN. BY JOHN BUNYAN 'Who being dead, yet speaketh.'--Hebrews 11:4 London: Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1688. This Title has a broad Black Border. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This solemn, searching, awful treatise, was published by Bunyan in 1682; but does not appear …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

A Few Sighs from Hell;
or, The Groans of the Damned Soul: or, An Exposition of those Words in the Sixteenth of Luke, Concerning the Rich Man and the Beggar WHEREIN IS DISCOVERED THE LAMENTABLE STATE OF THE DAMNED; THEIR CRIES, THEIR DESIRES IN THEIR DISTRESSES, WITH THE DETERMINATION OF GOD UPON THEM. A GOOD WARNING WORD TO SINNERS, BOTH OLD AND YOUNG, TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION BETIMES, AND TO SEEK, BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, TO AVOID, LEST THEY COME INTO THE SAME PLACE OF TORMENT. Also, a Brief Discourse touching the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

An Exhortation to Love God
1. An exhortation. Let me earnestly persuade all who bear the name of Christians to become lovers of God. "O love the Lord, all ye his saints" (Psalm xxxi. 23). There are but few that love God: many give Him hypocritical kisses, but few love Him. It is not so easy to love God as most imagine. The affection of love is natural, but the grace is not. Men are by nature haters of God (Rom. i. 30). The wicked would flee from God; they would neither be under His rules, nor within His reach. They fear God, …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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