2  ^k“Keep listening to my words,

and let this be your comfort.

3  Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, ^lmock on.

4  As for me, is my ^mcomplaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

5  Look at me and be appalled,

and ⁿlay your hand over your mouth.

6  When I remember, I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

7  ^oWhy do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

8  Their ^poffspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

9  Their houses are ^qsafe from fear,

and ^rno rod of God is upon them.

10  Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and ^sdoes not miscarry.

11  They send out their ^tlittle boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

12  They sing to ^uthe tambourine and ^vthe lyre

and rejoice to the sound of ^vthe pipe.

13  They ^wspend their days in prosperity,

and in ^xpeace they go down to ^ySheol.

14  They say to God, ^z‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

15  ^aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what ^bprofit do we get if we pray to him?’

16  Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

^cThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17  “How often is it that ^dthe lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God¹ distributes pains in his anger?

18  That they are like ^estraw before the wind,

and like ^fchaff that the storm carries away?

19  You say, ‘God ^gstores up their iniquity for their ^hchildren.’

Let him pay it out to them, that they may ⁱknow it.

20  Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them ^jdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21  For what do they care for their houses after them,

when ^kthe number of their months is cut off?