1-2. Don’t bother your head with braggartsor wish you could succeed like the wicked.In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippingsand wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
10-11. Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,relishing a huge bonanza.
12-13. Bad guys have it in for the good guys,obsessed with doing them in.But God isn’t losing any sleep; to himthey’re a joke with no punch line.
14-15. Bullies brandish their swords,pull back on their bows with a flourish.They’re out to beat up on the harmless,or mug that nice man out walking his dog.A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—slapstick figures in a moral circus.
16-17. Less is more and more is less.One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,For the wicked are moral weaklingsbut the righteous are God-strong.
18-19. God keeps track of the decent folk;what they do won’t soon be forgotten.In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high;when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full.
20. God-despisers have had it;God’s enemies are finished—Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,vanished like smoke in thin air.
21-22. Wicked borrows and never returns;Righteous gives and gives.Generous gets it all in the end;Stingy is cut off at the pass.