² “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights,
    by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—
³ As long as I live,
    while I have breath from God,
⁴ my lips will speak no evil,
    and my tongue will speak no lies.
⁵ I will never concede that you are right;
    I will defend my integrity until I die.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence without wavering.
    My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be punished like the wicked,
    my adversary like those who do evil.
⁸ For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off
    and takes away their life?
⁹ Will God listen to their cry
    when trouble comes upon them?
¹⁰ Can they take delight in the Almighty?
    Can they call to God at any time?
¹¹ I will teach you about God’s power.
    I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.
¹² But you have seen all this,
    yet you say all these useless things to me.

¹³ “This is what the wicked will receive from God;
    this is their inheritance from the Almighty.
¹⁴ They may have many children,
    but the children will die in war or starve to death.
¹⁵ Those who survive will die of a plague,
    and not even their widows will mourn them.

¹⁶ “Evil people may have piles of money
    and may store away mounds of clothing.
¹⁷ But the righteous will wear that clothing,
    and the innocent will divide that money.
¹⁸ The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,^[a]
    as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
¹⁹ The wicked go to bed rich
    but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.
²⁰ Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
    and they are blown away in the storms of the night.
²¹ The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.
    It sweeps them away.
²² It whirls down on them without mercy.
    They struggle to flee from its power.
²³ But everyone jeers at them
    and mocks them.