⁷ Why do the wicked live on,
    growing old and increasing in power?^(A)
8 They see their children established around them,
    their offspring before their eyes.^(B)
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;^(C)
    the rod of God is not on them.^(D)
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
    their cows calve and do not miscarry.^(E)
11 They send forth their children as a flock;^(F)
    their little ones dance about.
¹² They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;^(G)
    they make merry to the sound of the pipe.^(H)
13 They spend their years in prosperity^(I)
    and go down to the grave^(J) in peace.^[a](K)
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!^(L)
    We have no desire to know your ways.^(M)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?’^(N)
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.^(O)

¹⁷ “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?^(P)
    How often does calamity^(Q) come upon them,
    the fate God allots in his anger?^(R)
18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
    like chaff^(S) swept away^(T) by a gale?^(U)
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’^(V)
    Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!^(W)
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;^(X)
    let them drink^(Y) the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.^(Z)
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind^(AA)
    when their allotted months^(AB) come to an end?^(AC)

²² “Can anyone teach knowledge to God,^(AD)
    since he judges even the highest?^(AE)
23 One person dies in full vigor,^(AF)
    completely secure and at ease,^(AG)
24 well nourished^(AH) in body,^[b]
    bones^(AI) rich with marrow.^(AJ)
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,^(AK)
    never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,^(AL)
    and worms^(AM) cover them both.^(AN)

²⁷ “I know full well what you are thinking,
    the schemes by which you would wrong me.
²⁸ You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,^(AO)
    the tents where the wicked lived?’^(AP)
29 Have you never questioned those who travel?
    Have you paid no regard to their accounts—