1 | 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 uGod, 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. |