⁶ But robbers are left in peace,
    and those who provoke God live in safety—
    though God keeps them in his power.^[a]

²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
    and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
    If he’s not the one who does it, who is?

¹¹ “What does God know?” they ask.
    “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
¹² Look at these wicked people—
    enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

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?’

²⁷ Like a cage filled with birds,
    their homes are filled with evil plots.
    And now they are great and rich.

³⁵ I have seen wicked and ruthless people
    flourishing like a tree in its native soil.

¹ Don’t worry about the wicked
    or envy those who do wrong.

¹⁴ By the power of your hand, O Lord,
    destroy those who look to this world for their reward.
But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones.
    May their children have plenty,
    leaving an inheritance for their descendants.

¹⁸ Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things,
    so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.