10 But let the wise ancestors teach you;listen to what they had to say:
11 “Reeds can't grow where there is no water;they are never found outside a swamp.
12 If the water dries up, they are the first to wither,while still too small to be cut and used.
13 Godless men are like those reeds;their hope is gone, once God is forgotten.
14 They trust a thread — a spider's web.
15 If they lean on a web, will it hold them up?If they grab for a thread, will it help them stand?”
16 The wicked sprout like weeds in the sun,like weeds that spread all through the garden.