XIV.

Sinners "love the brief day spent in companionship with their sin." Profound wisdom, beautifully expressed .

Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in truth,
To them that endure His chastening,
To them that walk in the righteousness of His commandments,
In the law which He commanded us that we might live.
The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever;
The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His pious ones.
Their planting is rooted for ever;
They shall not be plucked up all the days of heaven:
For the portion and the inheritance of God is Israel.
But not so are the sinners and transgressors,
Who love the brief day spent in companionship with their sin;
Their delight is in fleeting corruption,
And they remember not God.
For the ways of men are known before Him at all times,
And He knoweth the secrets of the heart before they come to pass.
Therefore their inheritance is Sheol and darkness and destruction
And they shall not be found in the day when the righteous obtain mercy;
But the pious of the Lord shall inherit life in gladness.