5 Call, I pray thee! Is there any that answereth thee? and to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

² For vexation killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the simple.

³ I myself saw the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴ His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer:

⁵ Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh even out of the thorns; and the snare gapeth for his substance.

⁶ For evil cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷ For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.

⁸ But as for me I will seek unto God, and unto God commit my cause;

⁹ Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;

¹⁰ Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;

¹¹ Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.

¹² He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, and their hands carry not out the enterprise.

¹³ He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the wily is carried headlong:

¹⁴ They meet with darkness in a the daytime, and grope at midday as in the night.

¹⁵ And he saveth the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶ So the poor hath what he hopeth for, and unrighteousness stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷ Behold, happy is the man whom +God correcteth; therefore despise not 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, and 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 hidden from the scourge of the tongue; and thou shalt not be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

²² At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, and of the beasts of the earth thou shalt not be afraid.

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 wilt survey thy fold, and miss nothing.

²⁵ And thou shalt know that thy seed is numerous, and thine offspring as the herb of the earth.

²⁶ Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.

²⁷ Behold this, we have searched it out, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thyself.