to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

“Yes, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; his flame of fire does not shine.

“If I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice.

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths.

I summon my servant, but he does not respond, even though I implore him with my own mouth.

Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth,

For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build.

Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good.

Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.’

men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?

“If I go to the east, he is not there, and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.

But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.

I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go; my conscience will not reproach me for as long as I live.

He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.

It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power.