1 | Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? |
2 | For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy 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 the robber swalloweth up their substance. |
6 | Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; |
7 | Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. |
8 | I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: |
9 | Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: |
10 | Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: |
11 | To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. |
12 | He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. |
13 | He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. |
14 | They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. |
15 | But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and 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 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 shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. |
20 | In famine he shall 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 famine 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 tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. |
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 corn cometh in in his season. |
27 | Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good. |