Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me.

“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?

“Even today my complaint is still bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.

The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned.

Moreover, the strength of their hands – what use was it to me? Men whose strength had perished;

then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.

Look, I am just like you in relation to God; I too have been molded from clay.

Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; those who obey them receive a rich reward.

Certainly none who rely on you will be humiliated. Those who deal in treachery will be thwarted and humiliated.

Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, and our land will yield its crops.

where your ancestors challenged my authority, and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

Though rulers plot and slander me, your servant meditates on your statutes.

“Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not defeated me.

so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you, I will mock when what you dread comes,

A generous person will be enriched, and the one who provides water for others will himself be satisfied.

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.

A poor person is disliked even by his neighbors, but those who love the rich are many.

When a person’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he even reconciles his enemies to himself.

The one who acquits the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent – both of them are an abomination to the Lord.