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God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
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My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
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on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.
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“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?
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“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
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Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”
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then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.
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“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
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Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
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And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
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that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
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Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
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He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.
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When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows on him.
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A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
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Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”
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Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them.
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Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
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“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
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It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
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“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
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“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
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“Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
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Yet you say, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?
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They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’
