⁷ Have you ever seen destruction come to an upright man? or when were the god-fearing ever cut off?

²⁵ I have been young, and now am old, but I have not seen the good man without help, or his children looking for bread.

⁹ The Lord is able to keep the upright safe in the time of testing, and to keep evil-doers under punishment till the day of judging;

²⁰ Truly, God will not give up him who is without sin, and will not take evil-doers by the hand.

²² It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together.

²³ If death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong.

⁷ Lifting them up to the seat of kings, and making them safe for ever.

¹⁵ These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing.

¹ All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

² Because to all there is one event, to the upright man and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him who makes an offering and to him who makes no offering; as is the good so is the sinner; he who takes an oath is as he who has fear of it.

⁴ And when the people saw it hanging on his hand, they said to one another, Without doubt this man has put someone to death, and though he has got safely away from the sea, God will not let him go on living.