² “Listen! My thoughts urge me to answer
    because of the agitation within me.
³ I hear censure that insults me,
    and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.^(A)
4 Do you not know this from of old,
    ever since mortals were placed on earth,^(B)
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short
    and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?^(C)
6 Even though they mount up high as the heavens
    and their head reaches to the clouds,^(D)
7 they will perish forever like their own dung;
    those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’
⁸ They will fly away like a dream and not be found;
    they will be chased away like a vision of the night.^(E)
9 The eye that saw them will see them no more,
    nor will their place behold them any longer.^(F)
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and their hands will give back their wealth.^(G)
11 Their bodies, once full of youth,
    will lie down in the dust with them.^(H)

¹² “Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
    though they hide it under their tongues,^(I)
13 though they are loath to let it go
    and hold it in their mouths,
¹⁴ yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
    it is the venom of asps within them.
¹⁵ They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
    God casts them out of their bellies.
¹⁶ They will suck the poison of asps;
    the tongue of a viper will kill them.^(J)
17 They will not look on the rivers,
    the streams flowing with honey and curds.^(K)
18 They will give back the fruit of their toil
    and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
    they will get no enjoyment.^(L)
19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor;
    they have seized a house that they did not build.^(M)

²⁰ “For they knew no quiet in their bellies;
    in their greed they let nothing escape.^(N)
21 There was nothing left after they had eaten;
    therefore their prosperity will not endure.^(O)
22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
    all the force of misery will come upon them.
²³ To fill their belly to the full,
    God^[a] will send his fierce anger into them
    and rain it upon them as their food.^(P)
24 They will flee from an iron weapon;
    a bronze arrow will strike them through.^(Q)
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
    and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
    terrors come upon them.^(R)
26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
    a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
    what is left in their tent will be consumed.^(S)
27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against them.^(T)
28 The possessions of their house will be carried away,
    dragged off in the day of God’s^[b] wrath.^(U)
29 This is the portion of the wicked from God,
    the heritage decreed for them by God.”^(V)

² “Listen carefully to my words,
    and let this be your consolation.
³ Bear with me, and I will speak;
    then after I have spoken, mock on.^(W)
4 As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
    Why should I not be impatient?^(X)
5 Look at me and be appalled,
    and lay your hand upon your mouth.^(Y)
6 When I think of it I am dismayed,
    and shuddering seizes my flesh.
⁷ Why do the wicked live on,
    reach old age, and grow mighty in power?^(Z)
8 Their children are established in their presence
    and their offspring before their eyes.^(AA)
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
    and no rod of God is upon them.^(AB)
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
    their cow calves and never miscarries.^(AC)
11 They send out their little ones like a flock,
    and their children dance around.
¹² They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
    and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.^(AD)
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
    and in peace they go down to Sheol.^(AE)
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    We do not desire to know your ways.^(AF)
15 What is the Almighty,^[c] that we should serve him?
    And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’^(AG)
16 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?^[d]
    The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.^(AH)

¹⁷ “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
    How often does calamity come upon them?
    How often does God^[e] distribute pains in his anger?^(AI)
18 How often are they like straw before the wind
    and like chaff that the storm carries away?^(AJ)
19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
    Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.^(AK)
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,
    and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.^[f](AL)
21 For what do they care for their household after them,
    when the number of their months is cut off?
²² Will any teach God knowledge,
    seeing that he judges those who are on high?^(AM)
23 One dies in full prosperity,
    being wholly at ease and secure,
²⁴ his loins full of milk
    and the marrow of his bones moist.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
    never having tasted of good.
²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
    and the worms cover them.^(AN)

²⁷ “Oh, I know your thoughts
    and your schemes to wrong me.
²⁸ For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
    Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’^(AO)
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
    and do you not accept their testimony,
³⁰ that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity
    and are rescued in the day of wrath?^(AP)
31 Who declares their way to their face,
    and who repays them for what they have done?
³² When they are carried to the grave,
    a watch is kept over their tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
    everyone will follow after,
    and those who went before are innumerable.^(AQ)
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
    There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”