² “Listen carefully to what I’m saying.
    Let that be the comfort you people give me.
³ Put up with me while I speak.
    After I’ve spoken, you can make fun of me!

⁴ “I’m not arguing with mere human beings.
    So why shouldn’t I be angry and uneasy?
⁵ Look at me and be shocked.
    Put your hand over your mouth and stop talking!
⁶ When I think about these things, I’m terrified.
    My whole body trembles.
⁷ Why do sinful people keep on living?
    The older they grow, the richer they get.
⁸ They see their children grow up around them.
    They watch their family grow larger.
⁹ Their homes are safe.
    They don’t have to be afraid.
    God isn’t punishing them.
¹⁰ Every time their bulls mate, their cows become pregnant.
    And the calves don’t die before they are born.
¹¹ Sinful people send their children out like a flock of lambs.
    Their little ones dance around.
¹² They sing to the music of tambourines and lyres.
    They have a good time while flutes are being played.
¹³ Those who are evil spend their years living well.
    They go down to their graves in peace.
¹⁴ But they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    We don’t want to know how you want us to live.
¹⁵ Who is the Mighty One? Why should we serve him?
    What would we get if we prayed to him?’
¹⁶ But they aren’t in control of their own success.
    So I don’t pay any attention to their plans.

¹⁷ “How often are their lamps blown out?
    How often does trouble come on them?
    How often does God punish them when he’s angry?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw blowing in the wind?
    How often are they like tumbleweeds swept away by a storm?
¹⁹ People say, ‘God stores up the punishment of evil people for their children.’
    But let God punish the evil people themselves.
    Then they’ll learn a lesson from it.
²⁰ Let their own eyes see how they are destroyed.
    Let them drink the wine of the Mighty One’s anger.
²¹ What do they care about the families they leave behind?
    What do they care about them
    when their lives come to an end?

²² “Can anyone teach God anything?
    After all, he judges even the angels in heaven.
²³ Some people die while they are still very strong.
    They are completely secure. They have an easy life.
²⁴ They are well fed.
    Their bodies are healthy.
²⁵ Others die while their spirits are bitter.
    They’ve never enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust of death.
    The worms in their graves cover all of them.

²⁷ “I know exactly what you people are thinking.
    I know you are planning to do bad things to me.
²⁸ You are saying to yourselves,
    ‘Where is the great man’s house now?
    Where are the tents where his evil family lived?’
²⁹ Haven’t you ever asked questions of those who travel?
    Haven’t you paid any attention to their stories?
³⁰ They’ll tell you that sinful people
    are spared from the day of trouble.
They’ll say that those people
    are saved from the day when God will judge.
³¹ Who speaks against them for the way they act?
    Who pays them back for what they’ve done?
³² Their bodies will be carried to their graves.
    Guards will watch over their tombs.
³³ The soil in the valley will be pleasant
    to those who have died.
Many people will walk along behind their bodies.
    Many others will walk in front of them.

³⁴ “So how can you comfort me with your speeches?
    They don’t make any sense at all.
    Your answers are nothing but lies!”