⁴ For they have no pain;
    their bodies are sound and sleek.
⁵ They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not plagued like other people.^(D)
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them like a garment.^(E)
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.^(F)
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.^(G)
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
    and their tongues range over the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore the people turn and praise them^[a]
    and find no fault in them.^[b]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”^(H)
12 Such are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.^(I)
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.^(J)
14 For all day long I have been plagued
    and am punished every morning.^(K)

¹⁵ If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
    I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,^(L)
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I perceived their end.^(M)
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.^(N)
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!^(O)
20 They are^[c] like a dream when one awakes;
    on awaking you despise their phantoms.^(P)

²¹ When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
²² I was stupid and ignorant;
    I was like a brute beast toward you.^(Q)
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me with honor.^[d](R)
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.^(S)
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength^[e] of my heart and my portion forever.^(T)

²⁷ Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
    you put an end to those who are false to you.^(U)
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    to tell of all your works.^(V)