Lo! how happy is the man whom God correcteth! Therefore, the chastening of the Almighty, do not thou refuse;

I refuse to touch them;
they are like contaminated food.

You would still plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes would hate me [and refuse to cover my foul body].

He perishes forever like his refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

“Shall God’s retribution [for your sins] be on your terms, because you refuse to accept it?
For you must do the choosing, and not I;
Therefore say what you [truthfully] know.

“Surely God will not listen to an empty cry [which lacks trust],
Nor will the Almighty regard it.

But if they refuse to listen, they pass over the river of death, and expire without knowledge.