² Pay close attention to my words;
let this be the consolation you offer.
³ Bear with me while I speak;
then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

⁴ As for me, is my complaint^(A) against a man?
Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and shudder;^(B)
put your hand over your mouth.^(C)
6 When I think about it, I am terrified
and my body trembles^(D) in horror.
⁷ Why do the wicked continue to live,
growing old and becoming powerful?
⁸ Their children are established while they are still alive,^[a]
and their descendants, before their eyes.
⁹ Their homes are secure and free of fear;^(E)
no rod from God strikes them.^(F)
10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
¹¹ They let their little ones run around like lambs;
their children skip about,
¹² singing to the tambourine and lyre
and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.^(G)
13 They spend^[b] their days in prosperity^(H)
and go down to Sheol in peace.
¹⁴ Yet they say to God: “Leave us alone!
We don’t want to know Your ways.^(I)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
and what will we gain by pleading with Him?”^(J)
16 But their prosperity is not of their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!^(K)

¹⁷ How often is the lamp^(L) of the wicked put out?
Does disaster^[c] come on them?
Does He apportion destruction in His anger?
¹⁸ Are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff^(M) a storm sweeps away?
¹⁹ God reserves a person’s punishment for his children.^(N)
Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.
²⁰ Let his own eyes see his demise;
let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!^(O)
21 For what does he care about his family once he is dead,^(P)
when the number of his months has run out?^(Q)

²² Can anyone teach God knowledge,^(R)
since He judges the exalted ones?^[d]
23 One person dies in excellent health,^[e]
completely secure^[f] and at ease.
²⁴ His body is^[g] well fed,^[h]
and his bones are full of marrow.^[i]
25 Yet another person dies with a bitter^(S) soul,
having never tasted prosperity.
²⁶ But they both lie in the dust,
and worms cover them.^(T)

²⁷ I know your thoughts very well,
the schemes you would wrong me with.
²⁸ For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”
and “Where are the tents^(U) the wicked lived in?”
²⁹ Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?
Don’t you accept their reports?^[j]
30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster,
rescued from the day of wrath.
³¹ Who would denounce his behavior to his face?
Who would repay^(V) him for what he has done?
³² He is carried to the grave,
and someone keeps watch over his tomb.
³³ The dirt on his grave is^[k] sweet to him.
Everyone follows behind him,
and those who go before him are without number.

³⁴ So how can you offer me such futile comfort?
Your answers are deceptive.