The Wicked Prosper

7 “Why do the wicked go on living,

grow old, even increase in power?

8  Their children are firmly established

in their presence,

their offspring before their eyes.

9  Their houses are safe and without fear;

and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

10  Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

11  They allow their children to run like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

12  They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,

and make merry to the sound of the flute.

13  They live out their years in prosperity

and go down to the grave in peace.

14  So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to know your ways.

15  Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray to him?’

16  But their prosperity is not their own doing.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!