1
Do 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 neighbors 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?