Psalm 37:7-20

⁷ Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. ⁸ Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes - it only makes things worse. ⁹ Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store. ¹⁰ Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you'll stare at his once famous place and - nothing! ¹¹ Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza. ¹² Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. ¹³ But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ A banana peel lands them flat on their faces - slapstick figures in a moral circus. ¹⁶ Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked, ¹⁷ For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong. ¹⁸ God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won't soon be forgotten. ¹⁹ 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.