Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, ¹  they scoff at me. ² 

“Why do the wicked go on living, ¹  grow old, ²  even increase in power?

“Even today my complaint is still bitter; ¹  his ²  hand is heavy despite ³  my groaning.

The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; ¹  so the grave ²  takes away those who have sinned. ³ 

Moreover, the strength of their ¹  hands – what use was it to me? Men whose strength ²  had perished;

then this ¹  also would be iniquity to be judged, ²  for I would have been false ³  to God above.

Look, I am just like you in relation to God; I too have been molded ¹  from clay.

Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ¹  those who obey them receive a rich reward. ² 

Certainly none who rely on you will be humiliated. Those who deal in treachery will be thwarted ¹  and humiliated.

Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, ¹  and our land will yield ²  its crops.

where your ancestors challenged my authority, ¹  and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

Though rulers plot and slander me, ¹  your servant meditates on your statutes.

“Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not defeated me.

so ¹  I myself will laugh ²  when disaster strikes you, ³  I will mock when what you dread ⁴  comes,

A generous person ¹  will be enriched, ²  and the one who provides water ³  for others ⁴  will himself be satisfied. ⁵ 

Even in laughter the heart may ache, ¹  and the end ²  of joy may be ³  grief.

A poor person is disliked ¹  even by his neighbors, but those who love the rich are many.

When a person’s ¹  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ²  he ³  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ⁴ 

The one who acquits the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent ¹  – both of them are an abomination to the Lord. ²