² “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your ^[a]consolation.
³ Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep ^(A)mocking.

⁴ “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be astonished;
^(B)Put your hand over your mouth.
⁶ Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
^7 (C)Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?
⁸ Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are safe from fear,
^(D)Neither is ^[b]the rod of God upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves ^(E)without miscarriage.
¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
¹² They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
¹³ They ^(F)spend their days in wealth,
And ^[c]in a moment go down to the ^[d]grave.
^14 (G)Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
^15 (H)Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And ^(I)what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
¹⁶ Indeed ^[e]their prosperity is not in their hand;
^(J)The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷ “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God ^(K)distributes in His anger?
^18 (L)They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm ^[f]carries away.
¹⁹ They say, ‘God ^[g]lays up ^[h]one’s iniquity ^(M)for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
²⁰ Let his eyes see his destruction,
And ^(N)let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what does he care about his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut in half?

²² “Can^(O) anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?
²³ One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and secure;
²⁴ His ^[i]pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
²⁵ Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
Never having eaten with pleasure.
²⁶ They ^(P)lie down alike in the dust,
And worms cover them.

²⁷ “Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
²⁸ For you say,
‘Where is the house of the prince?
And where is ^[j]the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’
²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the road?
And do you not know their signs?
^30 (Q)For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
³¹ Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
³² Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
And a vigil kept over the tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
^(R)Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.
³⁴ How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since ^[k]falsehood remains in your answers?”