4For they have no pain;
    their bodies are sound and sleek.
5They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not plagued like other people.
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them like a garment.
7Their eyes swell out with fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
8They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
9They set their mouths against heaven,
    and their tongues range over the earth.

10Therefore the people turn and praise them,[b]
    and find no fault in them.[c]
11And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12Such are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
13All in vain I have kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
14For all day long I have been plagued,
    and am punished every morning.

15If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
    I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I perceived their end.
18Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
20They are[d] like a dream when one awakes;
    on awaking you despise their phantoms.

21When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22I was stupid and ignorant;
    I was like a brute beast toward you.
23Nevertheless I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
24You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me with honor.[e]
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength[f] of my heart and my portion forever.

27Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
    you put an end to those who are false to you.
28But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    to tell of all your works.