Life’s problems

¹Call out. Will anyone answer you?

To which holy one will you turn?

²Surely anger can kill the foolish;

fury can kill the simple.

³I’ve seen the foolish take root

and promptly curse their house.

⁴Their children are far from safety,[#5.4 Or May their children be far from safety.]

crushed in the gate without a deliverer.

⁵The hungry devour their crops;[#5.5 or May the hungry devour their crops.]

it’s taken even from the thorns,

and the thirsty pant after their yield.

⁶Surely trouble doesn’t come from dust,

nor does distress sprout from the ground.

⁷Surely humans are born to distress,

just as sparks rise up.

The answer is God

⁸But I would seek God,

⁹who does great things beyond comprehension,

wonderful things without number;

¹⁰who provides rain over the earth’s surface,

sends water to the open country,

¹¹exalts the lowly,

¹²who frustrates the schemes of the clever

¹³trapping the wise in their cleverness

¹⁴They encounter darkness during the day,

and at noon they fumble about as at night.

¹⁵Yet he rescues the orphan from the sword of their mouth,[#5.15 Heb lacks]

the needy from the grip of the strong;

Divine favor

¹⁷Look, happy is the person whom God corrects;

so don’t reject the Almighty’s instruction.

¹⁸He injures, but he binds up;

he strikes, but his hands heal.

¹⁹From six adversities he will deliver you;

from seven harm won’t touch you.

²⁰In famine he will ransom you from death;

in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the tongue’s sting,

and you won’t fear destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger;

you won’t be afraid of wild beasts;

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure.

You will examine your home and miss nothing.

²⁵You will know that you’ll have many children.

Your offspring will be like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to your grave in old age

as bundles of grain stacked up at harvesttime.

²⁷Look, we’ve searched this out, and so it is;

listen and find out for yourself.