5 Call now; is there any that will answer thee?
And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?
² For vexation killeth the foolish man,
And ^[a]jealousy 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 ^[b]the snare gapeth for their substance.
⁶ For ^[c]affliction cometh not forth from the dust,
Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
⁷ But man is born unto trouble,
As ^[d]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 ^[e]cannot perform their enterprise.
¹³ He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;
And the counsel of the cunning 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 ^[f]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 ^[g]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 dearth 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 ^[h]fold, and ^[i]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 full age,
Like as a shock of grain cometh in in its season.
²⁷ Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;
Hear it, and know thou it ^[j]for thy good.