Read the Bible

⁴ My quarrel is not with mortals;
    I have good reason to be impatient.
⁵ Look at me. Isn't that enough
    to make you stare in shocked silence?
⁶ When I think of what has happened to me,
    I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.

⁷ Why does God let evil people live,
    let them grow old and prosper?
⁸ They have children and grandchildren,
    and live to watch them all grow up.
⁹ God does not bring disaster on their homes;
    they never have to live in terror.
¹⁰ Yes, all their cattle breed
    and give birth without trouble.
¹¹ Their children run and play like lambs
¹²     and dance to the music of harps and flutes.
¹³ They live out their lives in peace
    and quietly die without suffering.

¹⁴ The wicked tell God to leave them alone;
    they don't want to know his will for their lives.
¹⁵ They think there is no need to serve God
    nor any advantage in praying to him.
¹⁶ They claim they succeed by their own strength,
    but their way of thinking I can't accept.

¹⁷ Was a wicked person's light ever put out?
    Did one of them ever meet with disaster?
Did God ever punish the wicked in anger
¹⁸     and blow them away like straw in the wind,
    or like dust carried away in a storm?

¹⁹ You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father.
No! Let God punish the sinners themselves;
    let him show that he does it because of their sins.
²⁰ Let sinners bear their own punishment;
    let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.
²¹ When our lives are over,
    do we really care whether our children are happy?
²² Can anyone teach God,
    who judges even those in high places?^23-24 Some people stay healthy till the day they die;
    they die happy and at ease,
    their bodies well-nourished.<
²⁵ Others have no happiness at all;
    they live and die with bitter hearts.
²⁶ But all alike die and are buried;
    they all are covered with worms.

²⁷ I know what spiteful thoughts you have.
²⁸ You ask, "Where are the homes of great people now,
    those who practiced evil?"

²⁹ Haven't you talked with people who travel?
    Don't you know the reports they bring back?
³⁰ On the day God is angry and punishes,
    it is the wicked who are always spared.
³¹ There is no one to accuse the wicked
    or pay them back for all they have done.
³² When they are carried to the graveyard,
    to their well-guarded tombs,
³³     thousands join the funeral procession,
    and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.

³⁴ And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense!
    Every answer you give is a lie!