5
1 Call out now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For anger kills the foolish man;
jealousy kills the silly one.
3 I have seen a foolish person taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his home.
4 His children are far from safety;
they are crushed in the city gate.
There is no one to rescue them.
5 The hungry eat up their harvest;
they even take it from among the thorns.
The thirsty pant for their wealth.
6 For difficulties do not come out from the soil;
neither does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Instead, mankind is born for trouble,
just as sparks fly upward.
8 But as for me, I would turn to God himself;
to him I would commit my cause—
9 he who does great and unsearchable things,
marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth,
and sends water on the fields.
11 He does this in order to set up on high those who are low;
to raise to safety those who mourn.
12 He breaks the plans of the crafty people,
so that their hands cannot achieve success.
13 He traps wise people in their own crafty actions;
the plans of twisted people are hurried to their end.
14 They encounter darkness in the daytime,
and grope at noonday as if it were night.
15 But he saves the poor person from the sword in their mouths
and the needy person from the hand of mighty people.
16 So the poor person has hope,
and injustice shuts her own mouth.
17 See, blessed is the man whom God corrects;
therefore, do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds and then binds up;
he wounds and then his hands heal.
19 He will rescue you out of six troubles;
indeed, in seven troubles, no evil will touch you.
20 In famine he will ransom you from death,
and in war from the hands of the sword.
21 You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue;
and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and you will not be afraid of beasts of the earth.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones in your field,
and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your tent is in safety;
you will visit your sheepfold and you will not miss anything.
25 You will also know that your seed will be great,
that your offspring will be like the grass on the ground.
26 You will come to your grave at a full age,
like a stack of grain bundles that goes up at its time.
27 See, we have examined this matter; it is like this;
listen to it, and know it for yourself.”