² ‘How long will you say such things?
    Your words are a blustering wind.
³ Does God pervert justice?
    Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
⁴ When your children sinned against him,
    he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
⁵ But if you will seek God earnestly
    and plead with the Almighty,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
    even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
    and restore you to your prosperous state.
⁷ Your beginnings will seem humble,
    so prosperous will your future be.

⁸ ‘Ask the former generations
    and find out what their ancestors learned,
⁹ for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
    and our days on earth are but a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not instruct you and tell you?
    Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
¹¹ Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
    Can reeds thrive without water?
¹² While still growing and uncut,
    they wither more quickly than grass.
¹³ Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
    so perishes the hope of the godless.
¹⁴ What they trust in is fragile^[a];
    what they rely on is a spider’s web.
¹⁵ They lean on the web, but it gives way;
    they cling to it, but it does not hold.
¹⁶ They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
    spreading its shoots over the garden;
¹⁷ it entwines its roots round a pile of rocks
    and looks for a place among the stones.
¹⁸ But when it is torn from its spot,
    that place disowns it and says, “I never saw you.”
¹⁹ Surely its life withers away,
    and^[b] from the soil other plants grow.

²⁰ ‘Surely God does not reject one who is blameless
    or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
    and your lips with shouts of joy.
²² Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
    and the tents of the wicked will be no more.’