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)

¹³ “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
    the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:^(A)
14 However many his children,^(B) their fate is the sword;^(C)
    his offspring will never have enough to eat.^(D)
15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
    and their widows will not weep for them.^(E)
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust^(F)
    and clothes like piles of clay,^(G)
17 what he lays up^(H) the righteous will wear,^(I)
    and the innocent will divide his silver.^(J)
18 The house^(K) he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,^(L)
    like a hut^(M) made by a watchman.
¹⁹ He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;^(N)
    when he opens his eyes, all is gone.^(O)
20 Terrors^(P) overtake him like a flood;^(Q)
    a tempest snatches him away in the night.^(R)
21 The east wind^(S) carries him off, and he is gone;^(T)
    it sweeps him out of his place.^(U)
22 It hurls itself against him without mercy^(V)
    as he flees headlong^(W) from its power.^(X)
23 It claps its hands^(Y) in derision
    and hisses him out of his place.”^(Z)

²⁴ “If I have put my trust in gold^(A)
    or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’^(B)

²⁵ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,^(A)
    the fortune my hands had gained,^(B)

²⁸ then these also would be sins to be judged,^(A)
    for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.^(B)

⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff^(Q)
    that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand^(R) in the judgment,^(S)
    nor sinners in the assembly^(T) of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord watches over^(U) the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.^(V)