¹² This is what the wicked are like—
    always free of care,^(A) they go on amassing wealth.^(B)

¹³ Surely in vain^(C) I have kept my heart pure
    and have washed my hands in innocence.^(D)
14 All day long I have been afflicted,^(E)
    and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand^(F) all this,
    it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary^(G) of God;
    then I understood their final destiny.^(H)

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;^(I)
    you cast them down to ruin.^(J)
19 How suddenly^(K) are they destroyed,
    completely swept away^(L) by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream^(M) when one awakes;^(N)
    when you arise, Lord,
    you will despise them as fantasies.^(O)

⁵ Yet you sweep people away^(A) in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
⁶ In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.^(B)