12–13  Bad guys have it in for the good guys,

obsessed with doing them in.

But God isn’t losing any sleep; to him

they’re a joke with no punch line.

14–15  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.

A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—

slapstick figures in a moral circus.

16–17  Less is more and more is less.

One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,

For the wicked are moral weaklings

but the righteous are God-strong.

18–19  God keeps track of the decent folk;

what they do won’t soon be forgotten.

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.

21–22  Wicked borrows and never returns;

Righteous gives and gives.

Generous gets it all in the end;

Stingy is cut off at the pass.