1Call now, if there is any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
2For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
3I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them .
5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
6Although affliction cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
7Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8I would seek to God, and to God would I commit my cause:
9Who doeth great things and unsearchable; wonderful things without number:
10Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
11To set on high those that are low: that those who mourn may be exalted to safety.
12He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
14They meet with darkness in the day-time, and grope in the noon-day as in the night.
15But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
17Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
18For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
19He will deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
20In famine he will redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
22At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
24And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle will be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.
25Thou shalt know also that thy seed will be great, and thy offspring as the grass of the earth.
26Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, as a shock of corn cometh in in its season.
27Lo this, we have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.