² ‘Listen carefully to the things that I am saying.
    You can only help me if you do that.
³ Be patient with me so that I can speak.
After you have heard what I say,
    you may choose to laugh at me.
⁴ It is not people that I want to argue with.^[a]
    So I have good reason to be upset.
⁵ When you look at me, you should be upset.
    You should cover your mouth with your hand.
⁶ I think about what has happened to me.
    It makes me very afraid.
    My body shakes with fear.

⁷ Why do wicked people continue to live for a long time?
    The older they become, the more power they have.
⁸ They see their own children grow and become strong.
    Their children also have strong families.
⁹ They are safe in their homes
    and they are not afraid.
God does not punish them.
¹⁰ Their cows give birth safely to many calves.
¹¹ Their children run and play.
    They jump like young lambs.
¹² They enjoy the music of tambourines and harps.
    They sing with joy to the sound of flutes.
¹³ Wicked people have plenty of money through their whole lives.
    Even when they die, they do not suffer.
¹⁴ They say to God, “Leave us alone!
    We do not want to know about your ways.
¹⁵ We do not need to serve the Almighty God.
If we pray to him,
    there is nothing he can do to help us.”
¹⁶ They think that they have made themselves rich.
    But it is not true.
So I do not listen to the things that wicked people say.

¹⁷ It seems that wicked people enjoy a long life.
    They do not often have many troubles.
When God is angry with them,
    he does not cause them to suffer.
¹⁸ He does not blow them away,
    like the wind blows dry grass.
They do not disappear like chaff that a storm blows away.
¹⁹ You may say, “God will punish a wicked person's children
    with the punishment that he deserves.”
But I say that God should punish the wicked person himself.
    Then he will realize that he is wicked.
²⁰ Wicked people should receive their own punishment.
    They should see that Almighty God is angry with them.
²¹ After wicked people have died,
    it does not matter to them if their family suffers.

²² No one can teach God what he should do.
    He himself judges the most powerful rulers.^[b]
23 One person has good health all his life.
    Even when he is ready to die,
    he still lives a safe and happy life.
²⁴     He eats good food and his body is strong.
²⁵ But another person is sad all his life, until he dies.
    No good things ever happen to him.
²⁶ But they all die one day
    and their bodies lie under the ground.
Worms cover their bodies, whoever they are.

²⁷ I know what you are thinking.
    You want to show that I am guilty.
²⁸ You say, “You see that the rich person no longer has a house.
    Wicked people no longer have homes to live in.”
²⁹ But you should ask people who travel to different places.
    You should listen to the things that they say.
³⁰ They would tell you that wicked people do not always suffer.
When trouble comes,
    they continue to be safe.
When God is angry with people,
    wicked people escape punishment.
³¹ No one speaks against them
    to say that they are guilty.
No one punishes them
    for the bad things that they have done.
³² When a wicked person dies,
    people bury him with honour.
Guards watch over his grave.
³³ A big crowd of people come to his funeral.
They make a heap of earth over his body,
    in the valley where he rests happily.

³⁴ So your useless words do not comfort me.
Your answers are all lies!’