14. You have said, ‘It's useless to serve God. What's the use of doing what he says or of trying to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done?
15. As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil people not only prosper, but they test God's patience with their evil deeds and get away with it.’ ”
16. Then the people who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard what they said. In his presence, there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the Lord and respected him.
17. “They will be my people,” says the Lord Almighty. “On the day when I act, they will be my very own. I will be merciful to them, as a father is merciful to the son who serves him.
18. Once again my people will see the difference between what happens to the righteous and to the wicked, to the person who serves me and the one who does not.”