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 day time, 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.