I have seen a wicked, violent man well-rooted like a flourishing native tree.

我见过恶人大有势力，好像一棵青翠树在本土生发。

我见过恶人大有势力，高耸如本地青翠的树木。

我见过恶人大有势力，高耸如本地青翠的树木。

我见过邪恶残暴之人，乍看如葱茏的黎巴嫩香柏树，

我曾看见强暴的恶人兴旺，像树木在本土茂盛。

我曾看到恶人的强横，像本地青翠的树那样蔓延；

我見過惡人大有勢力，好像一棵青翠樹在本土生發。

我見過惡人大有勢力，高聳如本地青翠的樹木。

我見過惡人大有勢力，高聳如本地青翠的樹木。

我見過邪惡殘暴之人，乍看如蔥蘢的黎巴嫩香柏樹，

我曾看見強暴的惡人興旺，像樹木在本土茂盛。

我見過惡人強橫可怖，挺然高聳、像茂盛的香柏樹。

我曾看到惡人的強橫，像本地青翠的樹那樣蔓延；

我見惡人勢盛、張大如青葱之樹、在其本土兮、

我見惡者強暴、蔓衍葱蘢、若茂樹兮、

我曾見強暴之惡人興旺、如根深葉茂之大樹、

曾見惡勢張。葱翠如春林。

I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,

I saw a mean and sinful person. He was doing well, like a green tree in its own land.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.

I have seen wicked and ruthless people flourishing like a tree in its native soil.

I have seen a wicked, violent person well-rooted, like a flourishing native tree.

I have seen a wicked, violent person Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.

I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree.

I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

I have seen ruthless evil men growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil.

I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

I have seen a fool taking root, but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful?Their children are established while they are still alive, and their descendants, before their eyes.Their homes are secure and free of fear; no rod from God strikes them.Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry.They let their little ones run around like lambs; their children skip about,singing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.Yet they say to God:“ Leave us alone! We don’t want to know Your ways.Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what will we gain by pleading with Him?”But their prosperity is not of their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does He apportion destruction in His anger?

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish.His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider’s web.He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up.He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine; his shoots spread out over his garden.His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks. He looks for a home among the stones.If he is uprooted from his place, it will deny knowing him, saying,“ I never saw you.”Surely this is the joy of his way of life; yet others will sprout from the dust.

I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the Pit.Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you:“ Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,who turned the world into a wilderness, who destroyed its cities and would not release the prisoners to return home?”All the kings of the nations lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.But you are thrown out without a grave, like a worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

All the birds of the sky nested in its branches, and all the animals of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant water.The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it; the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches, nor could the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with it in beauty.I made it beautiful with its many limbs, and all the trees of Eden, which were in God’s garden, envied it.“ Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,

For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.They have an easy time until they die, and their bodies are well fed.They are not in trouble like others; they are not afflicted like most people.Therefore, pride is their necklace, and violence covers them like a garment.Their eyes bulge out from fatness; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.They mock, and they speak maliciously; they arrogantly threaten oppression.They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues strut across the earth.Therefore His people turn to them and drink in their overflowing words.The wicked say,“ How can God know? Does the Most High know everything?”

Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.

“ Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes”— the declaration of the Lord God.

The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth,whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant— and on it was food for all, under it the wild animals lived, and in its branches the birds of the air lived—that tree is you, the king. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.“ The king saw an observer, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying,‘ Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky, and share food with the wild animals for seven periods of time.’This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the sentence of the Most High that has been passed against my lord the king:You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules.Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.At the end of 12 months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon,the king exclaimed,“ Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built by my vast power to be a royal residence and to display my majestic glory?”While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven:“ King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you.You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.”At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was executed. He was driven away from people. He ate grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.