Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² But my feet had almost slipped.
    I had almost tripped and fallen.
³ I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well.
    And I began to long for what they had.

⁴ They don’t have any troubles.
    Their bodies are healthy and strong.
⁵ They don’t have the problems most people have.
    They don’t suffer as other people do.
⁶ Their pride is like a necklace.
    They put on meanness as if it were their clothes.
⁷ Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts.
    There is no limit to the evil things they can think up.
⁸ They laugh at others and speak words of hatred.
    They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them.
⁹ They brag as if they owned heaven itself.
    They talk as if they controlled the earth.
¹⁰ So people listen to them.
    They lap up their words like water.
¹¹ They say, “How would God know what we’re doing?
    Does the Most High God know anything?”

¹² Here is what sinful people are like.
    They don’t have a care in the world.
    They keep getting richer and richer.

¹³ It seems as if I have kept my heart pure for no reason.
    It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands
    to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong.
¹⁴ Day after day I’ve been in pain.
    God has punished me in a new way every morning.

¹⁵ What if I had talked like that?
    Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children.
¹⁶ I tried to understand it all.
    But it was more than I could handle.
¹⁷ It troubled me until I entered God’s temple.
    Then I understood what will finally happen to bad people.

¹⁸ God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall.
    You will throw them down and destroy them.
¹⁹ It will happen very suddenly.
    A terrible death will take them away completely.
²⁰ A dream goes away when a person wakes up.
    Lord, it will be like that when you rise up.
    It will be as if those people were only a dream.

14 A wise woman builds her house.
    But a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands.

² Whoever has respect for the Lord lives a good life.
    But those who hate him walk down an evil path.

³ The proud words of a foolish person sting like a whip.
    But the things wise people say keep them safe.

⁴ Where there are no oxen, the feed box is empty.
    But a strong ox brings in huge harvests.

⁵ An honest witness does not lie.
    But a dishonest witness pours out lies.

⁶ Those who make fun of others look for wisdom and don’t find it.
    But knowledge comes easily to those who understand what is right.

⁷ Stay away from a foolish person.
    You won’t find knowledge in what they say.

⁸ People are wise and understanding when they think about the way they live.
    But people are foolish when their foolish ways trick them.

⁹ Foolish people laugh at making things right when they sin.
    But honest people try to do the right thing.