1 | "Call now; is there any one who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? |
2 | Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. |
3 | I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. |
4 | His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. |
5 | His harvest the hungry eat, and he takes it even out of thorns; and the thirsty pant after his wealth. |
6 | For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground; |
7 | but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. |
8 | "As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause; |
9 | who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: |
10 | he gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields; |
11 | he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. |
12 | He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. |
13 | He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. |
14 | They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. |
15 | But he saves the fatherless from their mouth, the needy from the hand of the mighty. |
16 | So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. |
17 | "Behold, happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty. |
18 | For he wounds, but he binds up; he smites, but his hands heal. |
19 | He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven there shall no evil touch you. |
20 | In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. |
21 | You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. |
22 | At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. |
23 | For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. |
24 | You shall know that your tent is safe, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. |
25 | You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. |
26 | You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season. |
27 | Lo, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good." |