Daily Bread

² “Listen carefully to my words;^(A)
    let this be the consolation you give me.^(B)
3 Bear with me while I speak,
    and after I have spoken, mock on.^(C)

⁴ “Is my complaint^(D) directed to a human being?
    Why should I not be impatient?^(E)
5 Look at me and be appalled;
    clap your hand over your mouth.^(F)
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;^(G)
    trembling seizes my body.^(H)
7 Why do the wicked live on,
    growing old and increasing in power?^(I)
8 They see their children established around them,
    their offspring before their eyes.^(J)
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;^(K)
    the rod of God is not on them.^(L)
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
    their cows calve and do not miscarry.^(M)
11 They send forth their children as a flock;^(N)
    their little ones dance about.
¹² They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;^(O)
    they make merry to the sound of the pipe.^(P)
13 They spend their years in prosperity^(Q)
    and go down to the grave^(R) in peace.^[a](S)
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!^(T)
    We have no desire to know your ways.^(U)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?’^(V)
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.^(W)

¹⁷ “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?^(X)
    How often does calamity^(Y) come upon them,
    the fate God allots in his anger?^(Z)
18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
    like chaff^(AA) swept away^(AB) by a gale?^(AC)
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’^(AD)
    Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!^(AE)
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;^(AF)
    let them drink^(AG) the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.^(AH)
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind^(AI)
    when their allotted months^(AJ) come to an end?^(AK)

²² “Can anyone teach knowledge to God,^(AL)
    since he judges even the highest?^(AM)
23 One person dies in full vigor,^(AN)
    completely secure and at ease,^(AO)
24 well nourished^(AP) in body,^[b]
    bones^(AQ) rich with marrow.^(AR)
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,^(AS)
    never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,^(AT)
    and worms^(AU) cover them both.^(AV)

²⁷ “I know full well what you are thinking,
    the schemes by which you would wrong me.
²⁸ You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,^(AW)
    the tents where the wicked lived?’^(AX)
29 Have you never questioned those who travel?
    Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
³⁰ that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,^(AY)
    that they are delivered from^[c] the day of wrath?^(AZ)
31 Who denounces their conduct to their face?
    Who repays them for what they have done?^(BA)
32 They are carried to the grave,
    and watch is kept over their tombs.^(BB)
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to them;^(BC)
    everyone follows after them,
    and a countless throng goes^[d] before them.^(BD)

³⁴ “So how can you console me^(BE) with your nonsense?
    Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”^(BF)