[1]Call now; is there any that will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?
[2]For anger killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
[3]I have seen the foolish taking root; but suddenly I beheld his habitation cursed.
[4]His children are far from safety, and are crushed in the gate, with none to deliver them.
[5]Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the snare gapeth for their substance.
[6]For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
[7]But man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
[8]But as for me, I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause;
[9]Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;
[10]Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields;
[11]So that He setteth up on high those that are low, and those that mourn are exalted to safety.
[12]He frustrateth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands can perform nothing substantial.
[13]He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the wily is carried headlong.
[14]They meet with darkness in the day-time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
[15]But He saveth from the sword of their mouth, even the needy 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 will deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
[20]In famine He will 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 tent is in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt miss nothing.
[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 ripe age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in its season.
[27]Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.
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