17 People will see the death of the wise, but they won’t understand the Lord’s purposes for them, nor to what end the Lord kept them safe.
18 Instead, they will laugh at what they see. In the end, however, the Lord will have the last laugh on them.
19 Then they will be no better than mutilated corpses, a scandal to the rest of the dead forever. The Lord will crush them and leave them lying there speechless. He will shake them from their very foundations. They will waste away in agony. Their memory will be wiped out.
20 They will cower when their sins are counted up. Their lawless deeds will witness against them and convict them.