³ Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
    for we have endured no end of contempt.
⁴ We have endured no end
    of ridicule from the arrogant,
    of contempt from the proud.

¹⁷ “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?^(A)
    How often does calamity^(B) come upon them,
    the fate God allots in his anger?^(C)
18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
    like chaff^(D) swept away^(E) by a gale?^(F)
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’^(G)
    Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!^(H)
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;^(I)
    let them drink^(J) the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.^(K)
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind^(L)
    when their allotted months^(M) come to an end?^(N)

²² “Can anyone teach knowledge to God,^(O)
    since he judges even the highest?^(P)
23 One person dies in full vigor,^(Q)
    completely secure and at ease,^(R)
24 well nourished^(S) in body,^[a]
    bones^(T) rich with marrow.^(U)
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,^(V)
    never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,^(W)
    and worms^(X) cover them both.^(Y)

²⁷ “I know full well what you are thinking,
    the schemes by which you would wrong me.
²⁸ You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,^(Z)
    the tents where the wicked lived?’^(AA)
29 Have you never questioned those who travel?
    Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
³⁰ that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,^(AB)
    that they are delivered from^[b] the day of wrath?^(AC)
31 Who denounces their conduct to their face?
    Who repays them for what they have done?^(AD)
32 They are carried to the grave,
    and watch is kept over their tombs.^(AE)
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to them;^(AF)
    everyone follows after them,
    and a countless throng goes^[c] before them.^(AG)

³⁴ “So how can you console me^(AH) with your nonsense?
    Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”^(AI)