and fall into the hole that they have made. Their mischief returns upon their own heads, and on their own heads their violence descends.*22 These verses reveal that what we may call the whetted sword of God’s vengeance is, on a deeper level, the reciprocal consequences of seeking to harm others. These sinners fall into their own diabolical traps and their violence boomerangs back onto their own heads. But here I need to make something very clear: that God’s wrath is a biblical metaphor does not make the consequences of sin any less real or painful. The revelation that God’s
