God’s Punishment of Sinners
1Do not desire a multitude of worthless children,
and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
2If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
3Do not trust in their survival,
or rely on their numbers;
for one can be better than a thousand,
and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.
4For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people,
but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.
5Many such things my eye has seen,
and my ear has heard things more striking than these.
6In an assembly of sinners a fire is kindled,
and in a disobedient nation wrath blazes up.
7He did not forgive the ancient giants
who revolted in their might.
8He did not spare the neighbors of Lot,
whom he loathed on account of their arrogance.
9He showed no pity on the doomed nation,
on those dispossessed because of their sins;
10or on the six hundred thousand foot soldiers
who assembled in their stubbornness.
11Even if there were only one stiff-necked person,
it would be a wonder if he remained unpunished.
For mercy and wrath are with the Lord;
he is mighty to forgive—but he also pours out wrath.
12Great as is his mercy, so also is his chastisement;
he judges a person according to his or her deeds.
13The sinner will not escape with plunder,
and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.
14He makes room for every act of mercy;
everyone receives in accordance with his or her deeds.
17Do not say, “I am hidden from the Lord,
and who from on high has me in mind?
Among so many people I am unknown,
for what am I in a boundless creation?
18Lo, heaven and the highest heaven,
the abyss and the earth, tremble at his visitation!
19The very mountains and the foundations of the earth
quiver and quake when he looks upon them.
20But no human mind can grasp this,
and who can comprehend his ways?
21Like a tempest that no one can see,
so most of his works are concealed.
22Who is to announce his acts of justice?
Or who can await them? For his decree is far off.”
23Such are the thoughts of one devoid of understanding;
a senseless and misguided person thinks foolishly.
God’s Wisdom Seen in Creation
24Listen to me, my child, and acquire knowledge,
and pay close attention to my words.
25I will impart discipline precisely
and declare knowledge accurately.
26When the Lord created his works from the beginning,
and, in making them, determined their boundaries,
27he arranged his works in an eternal order,
and their dominion for all generations.
They neither hunger nor grow weary,
and they do not abandon their tasks.
28They do not crowd one another,
and they never disobey his word.
29Then the Lord looked upon the earth,
and filled it with his good things.
30With all kinds of living beings he covered its surface,
and into it they must return.
