| 1 | 'Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? |
| 2 | For resentment kills the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple. |
| 3 | I have seen the foolish taking root, But suddenly I cursed his habitation. |
| 4 | His children are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, |
| 5 | Whose harvest the hungry eats up, Takes it even out of the thorns; The snare gapes for their substance. |
| 6 | For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, Neither does trouble spring out of the ground; |
| 7 | But man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. |
| 8 | 'But as for me, I would seek God, To God would I commit my cause; |
| 9 | Who does great things that can't be fathomed, Marvelous things without number; |
| 10 | Who gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields; |
| 11 | So that he sets up on high those who are low, Those who mourn are exalted to safety. |
| 12 | He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise. |
| 13 | He takes the wise in their own craftiness; 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 saves from the sword of their mouth, Even the needy from the hand of the mighty. |
| 16 | So the poor has hope, And injustice shuts her mouth. |
| 17 | 'Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. |
| 18 | For he wounds, and binds up; He injures, and his hands make whole. |
| 19 | He will deliver you in six troubles; Yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you. |
| 20 | In famine he will redeem you from death; In war, from the power of the sword. |
| 21 | You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, Neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. |
| 22 | At destruction and dearth you shall laugh, Neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth. |
| 23 | For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you. |
| 24 | You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing. |
| 25 | You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth. |
| 26 | You shall come to your grave in a full age, Like a shock of grain comes in its season. |
| 27 | Look this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know it for your good.' |