A CLEAR CONSCIENCE

² “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
    the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
³ as long as I have life within me,
    the breath of God in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not say anything wicked,
    and my tongue will not utter lies.
⁵ I will never admit you are in the right;
    till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;
    my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked,
    my adversary like the unjust!
⁸ For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,
    when God takes away their life?
⁹ Does God listen to their cry
    when distress comes upon them?
¹⁰ Will they find delight in the Almighty?
    Will they call on God at all times?

¹¹ “I will teach you about the power of God;
    the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² You have all seen this yourselves.
    Why then this meaningless talk?

¹³ “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
    the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
¹⁴ However many his children, their fate is the sword;
    his offspring will never have enough to eat.
¹⁵ The plague will bury those who survive him,
    and their widows will not weep for them.
¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust
    and clothes like piles of clay,
¹⁷ what he lays up the righteous will wear,
    and the innocent will divide his silver.
¹⁸ The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,
    like a hut made by a watchman.
¹⁹ He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
    when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    a tempest snatches him away in the night.
²¹ The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It hurls itself against him without mercy
    as he flees headlong from its power.
²³ It claps its hands in derision
    and hisses him out of his place.”