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