11. Sinful people send their children out like a flock of lambs. Their little ones dance around.
12. They sing to the music of tambourines and harps. They have a good time while flutes are being played.
13. Those who are evil spend their years living well. They go down to their graves in peace.
14. But they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We don't want to know how you want us to live.
15. Who is the Mighty One? Why should we serve him? What would we get if we prayed to him?'
16. But they aren't in control of their own success. So I don't pay any attention to the advice they give.
17. "How often are their lamps blown out? How often does trouble come on them? How often does God punish them when he's angry?
18. How often are they like dried-up seed coverings blowing in the wind? How often are they like straw swept away by a storm?
19. People say, 'God punishes a man's children for his sins.' But let him punish the man himself. Then he'll learn a lesson from it.
20. Let his own eyes see how he is destroyed. Let him drink the wine of the Mighty One's anger.