10. But let the wise ancestors teach you;listen to what they had to say:
11. “Reeds can't grow where there is no water;they are never found outside a swamp.
12. If the water dries up, they are the first to wither,while still too small to be cut and used.
13. Godless men are like those reeds;their hope is gone, once God is forgotten.
14. They trust a thread — a spider's web.
15. If they lean on a web, will it hold them up?If they grab for a thread, will it help them stand?”
16. The wicked sprout like weeds in the sun,like weeds that spread all through the garden.
17. Their roots wrap round the stonesand hold fast to every rock.