21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living,
grow old, even increase in power?
21:8 Their children are firmly established
in their presence,
their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are safe and without fear;
and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
21:10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
21:11 They allow their children to run like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
21:12 They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,
and make merry to the sound of the flute.
21:13 They live out their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace.
21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to know your ways.
21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray to him?’
21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!
21:17 “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?