² “God is powerful and dreadful.
    He enforces peace in the heavens.
³ Who is able to count his heavenly army?
    Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth?
⁴ How can a mortal be innocent before God?
    Can anyone born of a woman be pure?
⁵ God is more glorious than the moon;
    he shines brighter than the stars.
⁶ In comparison, people are maggots;
    we mortals are mere worms.”

⁹ “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast,
    taking the baby as security for a loan.
¹⁰ The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.
    They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
¹¹ They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it,
    and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the wounded cry for help,
    yet God ignores their moaning.

¹³ “Wicked people rebel against the light.
    They refuse to acknowledge its ways
    or stay in its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises in the early dawn
    to kill the poor and needy;
    at night he is a thief.
¹⁵ The adulterer waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No one will see me then.’
    He hides his face so no one will know him.
¹⁶ Thieves break into houses at night
    and sleep in the daytime.
    They are not acquainted with the light.
¹⁷ The black night is their morning.
    They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.

¹⁸ “But they disappear like foam down a river.
    Everything they own is cursed,
    and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
¹⁹ The grave^[a] consumes sinners
    just as drought and heat consume snow.
²⁰ Their own mothers will forget them.
    Maggots will find them sweet to eat.
No one will remember them.
    Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
²¹ They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.
    They refuse to help the needy widow.

²² “God, in his power, drags away the rich.
    They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
²³ They may be allowed to live in security,
    but God is always watching them.
²⁴ And though they are great now,
    in a moment they will be gone like all others,
    cut off like heads of grain.
²⁵ Can anyone claim otherwise?
    Who can prove me wrong?”

² “Can a person do anything to help God?
    Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
³ Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous?
    Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
⁴ Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you
    and brings judgment against you?
⁵ No, it’s because of your wickedness!
    There’s no limit to your sins.

⁶ “For example, you must have lent money to your friend
    and demanded clothing as security.
    Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
⁷ You must have refused water for the thirsty
    and food for the hungry.
⁸ You probably think the land belongs to the powerful
    and only the privileged have a right to it!
⁹ You must have sent widows away empty-handed
    and crushed the hopes of orphans.
¹⁰ That is why you are surrounded by traps
    and tremble from sudden fears.
¹¹ That is why you cannot see in the darkness,
    and waves of water cover you.

¹² “God is so great—higher than the heavens,
    higher than the farthest stars.
¹³ But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
    How can he judge through the thick darkness?
¹⁴ For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
    He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵ “Will you continue on the old paths
    where evil people have walked?
¹⁶ They were snatched away in the prime of life,
    the foundations of their lives washed away.
¹⁷ For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?’
¹⁸ Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things,
    so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

¹⁹ “The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed,
    and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
²⁰ They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed.
    The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’

²¹ “Submit to God, and you will have peace;
    then things will go well for you.
²² Listen to his instructions,
    and store them in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored—
    so clean up your life.
²⁴ If you give up your lust for money
    and throw your precious gold into the river,
²⁵ the Almighty himself will be your treasure.
    He will be your precious silver!

²⁶ “Then you will take delight in the Almighty
    and look up to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows to him.
²⁸ You will succeed in whatever you choose to do,
    and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
²⁹ If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’
    God will save them.
³⁰ Even sinners will be rescued;
    they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”

² “Listen closely to what I am saying.
    That’s one consolation you can give me.
³ Bear with me, and let me speak.
    After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.

⁴ “My complaint is with God, not with people.
    I have good reason to be so impatient.
⁵ Look at me and be stunned.
    Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
⁶ When I think about what I am saying, I shudder.
    My body trembles.

⁷ “Why do the wicked prosper,
    growing old and powerful?
⁸ They live to see their children grow up and settle down,
    and they enjoy their grandchildren.
⁹ Their homes are safe from every fear,
    and God does not punish them.
¹⁰ Their bulls never fail to breed.
    Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
¹¹ They let their children frisk about like lambs.
    Their little ones skip and dance.
¹² They sing with tambourine and harp.
    They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
¹³ They spend their days in prosperity,
    then go down to the grave^[a] in peace.
¹⁴ And yet they say to God, ‘Go away.
    We want no part of you and your ways.
¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him?
    What good will it do us to pray?’
¹⁶ (They think their prosperity is of their own doing,
    but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)

¹⁷ “Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.
    Do they ever have trouble?
    Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?
¹⁸ Are they driven before the wind like straw?
    Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?
    Not at all!

¹⁹ “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’
    But I say he should punish the ones who sin,
    so that they understand his judgment.
²⁰ Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.
    Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
²¹ For they will not care what happens to their family
    after they are dead.

²² “But who can teach a lesson to God,
    since he judges even the most powerful?
²³ One person dies in prosperity,
    completely comfortable and secure,
²⁴ the picture of good health,
    vigorous and fit.
²⁵ Another person dies in bitter poverty,
    never having tasted the good life.
²⁶ But both are buried in the same dust,
    both eaten by the same maggots.

²⁷ “Look, I know what you’re thinking.
    I know the schemes you plot against me.
²⁸ You will tell me of rich and wicked people
    whose houses have vanished because of their sins.
²⁹ But ask those who have been around,
    and they will tell you the truth.
³⁰ Evil people are spared in times of calamity
    and are allowed to escape disaster.
³¹ No one criticizes them openly
    or pays them back for what they have done.
³² When they are carried to the grave,
    an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.
³³ A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.
    Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest,
    and the earth gives sweet repose.

³⁴ “How can your empty clichés comfort me?
    All your explanations are lies!”

² “I must reply
    because I am greatly disturbed.
³ I’ve had to endure your insults,
    but now my spirit prompts me to reply.

⁴ “Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time,
    ever since people were first placed on the earth,
⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
    and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
⁶ Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens
    and their heads touch the clouds,
⁷ yet they will vanish forever,
    thrown away like their own dung.
Those who knew them will ask,
    ‘Where are they?’
⁸ They will fade like a dream and not be found.
    They will vanish like a vision in the night.
⁹ Those who once saw them will see them no more.
    Their families will never see them again.
¹⁰ Their children will beg from the poor,
    for they must give back their stolen riches.
¹¹ Though they are young,
    their bones will lie in the dust.

¹² “They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
    letting it melt under their tongue.
¹³ They savored it,
    holding it long in their mouths.
¹⁴ But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
    a poisonous venom in their stomach.
¹⁵ They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
    God won’t let them keep it down.
¹⁶ They will suck the poison of cobras.
    The viper will kill them.
¹⁷ They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil
    or rivers of milk and honey.
¹⁸ They will give back everything they worked for.
    Their wealth will bring them no joy.
¹⁹ For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute.
    They foreclosed on their homes.
²⁰ They were always greedy and never satisfied.
    Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.
²¹ Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves.
    Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.

²² “In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble
    and be overcome by misery.
²³ May God give them a bellyful of trouble.
    May God rain down his anger upon them.
²⁴ When they try to escape an iron weapon,
    a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
²⁵ The arrow is pulled from their back,
    and the arrowhead glistens with blood.^[a]
The terrors of death are upon them.
²⁶     Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness.
A wildfire will devour their goods,
    consuming all they have left.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal their guilt,
    and the earth will testify against them.
²⁸ A flood will sweep away their house.
    God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.
²⁹ This is the reward that God gives the wicked.
    It is the inheritance decreed by God.”