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God’s Punishment of Sinners

16Do not desire a multitude of worthless^* children,
   and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
² If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
   unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
³ Do 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.
⁴ For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people,
   but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.

⁵ Many such things my eye has seen,
   and my ear has heard things more striking than these.
⁶ In an assembly of sinners a fire is kindled,
   and in a disobedient nation wrath blazes up.
⁷ He did not forgive the ancient giants
   who revolted in their might.
⁸ He did not spare the neighbours of Lot,
   whom he loathed on account of their arrogance.
⁹ He showed no pity on the doomed nation,
   on those dispossessed because of their sins;^*
10 or on the six hundred thousand foot-soldiers
   who assembled in their stubbornness.^*
11 Even 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.
¹² Great as is his mercy, so also is his chastisement;
   he judges a person according to his or her deeds.
¹³ The sinner will not escape with plunder,
   and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.
¹⁴ He makes room for every act of mercy;
   everyone receives in accordance with his or her deeds.^*

¹⁷ Do 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?
¹⁸ Lo, heaven and the highest heaven,
   the abyss and the earth, tremble at his visitation!^*
19 The very mountains and the foundations of the earth
   quiver and quake when he looks upon them.
²⁰ But no human mind can grasp this,
   and who can comprehend his ways?
²¹ Like a tempest that no one can see,
   so most of his works are concealed.^*
22 Who is to announce his acts of justice?
   Or who can await them? For his decree^* is far off.’^*
23 Such are the thoughts of one devoid of understanding;
   a senseless and misguided person thinks foolishly.

God’s Wisdom Seen in Creation

²⁴ Listen to me, my child, and acquire knowledge,
   and pay close attention to my words.
²⁵ I will impart discipline precisely^*
   and declare knowledge accurately.

²⁶ When the Lord created^* his works from the beginning,
   and, in making them, determined their boundaries,
²⁷ he 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.
²⁸ They do not crowd one another,
   and they never disobey his word.
²⁹ Then the Lord looked upon the earth,
   and filled it with his good things.
³⁰ With all kinds of living beings he covered its surface,
   and into it they must return.