| 1 | Pray, call, is there any to answer thee? And unto which of the holy ones dost thou turn? |
| 2 | For provocation slayeth the perverse, And envy putteth to death the simple, |
| 3 | I -- I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway, |
| 4 | Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer. |
| 5 | Whose harvest the hungry doth eat, And even from the thorns taketh it, And the designing swallowed their wealth. |
| 6 | For sorrow cometh not forth from the dust, Nor from the ground springeth up misery. |
| 7 | For man to misery is born, And the sparks go high to fly. |
| 8 | Yet I -- I inquire for God, And for God I give my word, |
| 9 | Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, till there is no numbering. |
| 10 | Who is giving rain on the face of the land, And is sending waters on the out-places. |
| 11 | To set the low on a high place, And the mourners have been high [in] safety. |
| 12 | Making void thoughts of the subtile, And their hands do not execute wisdom. |
| 13 | Capturing the wise in their subtilty, And the counsel of wrestling ones was hastened, |
| 14 | By day they meet darkness, And as night -- they grope at noon. |
| 15 | And He saveth the wasted from their mouth, And from a strong hand the needy, |
| 16 | And there is hope to the poor, And perverseness hath shut her mouth. |
| 17 | Lo, the happiness of mortal man, God doth reprove him: And the chastisement of the Mighty despise not, |
| 18 | For He doth pain, and He bindeth up, He smiteth, and His hands heal. |
| 19 | In six distresses He delivereth thee, And in seven evil striketh not on thee. |
| 20 | In famine He hath redeemed thee from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword. |
| 21 | When the tongue scourgeth thou art hid, And thou art not afraid of destruction, When it cometh. |
| 22 | At destruction and at hunger thou mockest, And of the beast of the earth, Thou art not afraid. |
| 23 | (For with sons of the field [is] thy covenant, And the beast of the field Hath been at peace with thee.) |
| 24 | And thou hast known that thy tent [is] peace, And inspected thy habitation, and errest not, |
| 25 | And hast known that numerous [is] Thy seed, And thine offspring as the herb of the earth; |
| 26 | Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season. |
| 27 | Lo, this -- we searched it out -- it [is] right, hearken; And thou, know for thyself! |
