¹“Call now ; is there any who will answer you ?

To which of the holy ones will you turn ?

²For resentment kills the foolish man ,

and jealousy kills the simple .

³I have seen the foolish taking root ,

but suddenly I cursed his habitation .

⁴His children are far from safety .

They are crushed in the gate .

Neither is there any to deliver them ,

⁵whose harvest the hungry eat up ,

and take it even out of the thorns .

The snare gapes for their substance .

⁶For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust ,

neither does trouble spring out of the ground ;

⁷but man is born to trouble ,

as the sparks fly upward .

⁸“But as for me , I would seek God.

I would commit my cause to God,

⁹who does great things that can ’t be fathomed,

marvellous things without number ;

¹⁰who gives rain on the earth,

and sends waters on the fields ;

¹¹so that he sets up on high those who are low ,

those who mourn are exalted to safety .

¹²He frustrates the plans of the crafty ,

so that their hands can ’t perform their enterprise .

¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness ;

the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong .

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the day time ,

and grope at noonday as in the night .

¹⁵But he saves from the sword of their mouth ,

even the needy from the hand of the mighty .

¹⁶So the poor has hope ,

and injustice shuts her mouth .

¹⁷“Behold , happy is the man whom God corrects .

Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty .

¹⁸For he wounds and binds up .

He injures and his hands make whole .

¹⁹He will deliver you in six troubles ;

yes, in seven no evil will touch you .

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death ;

in war , from the power of the sword .

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue ,

neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine ,

neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

²³For you will be allied with the stones of the field .

The animals of the field will be at peace with you .

²⁴You will know that your tent is in peace .

You will visit your fold , and will miss nothing .

²⁵You will know also that your offspring will be great ,[#5:25 or, seed]

your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to your grave in a full age ,

like a shock of grain comes in its season .

²⁷Behold , we have researched it . It is so .

Hear it , and know it for your good.”