You boast that you have made a treaty with death and reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and deceit to keep you safe.

You go to court, but you do not have justice on your side. You depend on lies to win your case. You carry out your plans to hurt others.

"Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety, but trusted instead in great wealth and looked for security in being wicked."

Human beings are all like a puff of breath; great and small alike are worthless. Put them on the scales, and they weigh nothing; they are lighter than a mere breath.

Those who try to hide their plans from the LORD are doomed! They carry out their schemes in secret and think no one will see them or know what they are doing.

And yet you ask, "What does God know? He is hidden by clouds---how can he judge us?"

You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing, as he walks on the dome of the sky.

The wicked say to themselves, "God doesn't care! He has closed his eyes and will never see me!"

They encourage each other in their evil plots; they talk about where they will place their traps. "No one can see them," they say.

They say, "The LORD does not see us; the God of Israel does not notice."

God made our ears---can't he hear? He made our eyes---can't he see?

No one can keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out.

No one can hide where I cannot see them. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth?

God asked me, "Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: 'The LORD doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.' "

God answered, "The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the LORD, have abandoned their country and that I don't see them.

You are doomed! You think you are wise, so very clever.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine.

Your wisdom and skill made you rich with treasures of gold and silver.

"Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: Because you think you are as wise as a god,

They say they are wise, but they are fools;

The scripture says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars."

For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called "foolish" message we preach, God decided to save those who believe.

For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God's sight. As the scripture says, "God traps the wise in their cleverness";