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 prosperityand 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!
17. “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?How often does their misfortune come upon them?How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger?
18. How often are they like straw before the wind,and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?
19. You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it!