“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of athe holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 aI have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
4 His children are afar from safety;
they are crushed in bthe gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat his harvest,
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 aborn 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 adoes great things and bunsearchable,
cmarvelous things without number:
10 he gives arain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 he asets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He afrustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He acatches 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 agrope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he asaves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and ainjustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold, ablessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore bdespise not the discipline of the cAlmighty.
18 For he wounds, but he abinds up;
he bshatters, but his hands heal.
19 He will adeliver you from six troubles;
in seven no bevil shall touch you.
20 aIn famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be ahidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear athe 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 atent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know also that your aoffspring shall be many,
and your descendants as bthe grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in aripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
27 Behold, this we have asearched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good.”