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!”