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1 But call, if any one will listen to you, or if you shall see any of the holy angels.
2 For wrath destroys the foolish one, and envy slays him that has gone astray.
3 And I have seen foolish ones taking root: but suddenly their habitation was devoured.
4 Let their children be far from safety, and let them be crushed at the doors of vile men, and let there be no deliverer.
5 For what they have collected, the just shall eat; but they shall not be delivered out of calamities: let their strength be utterly exhausted.
6 For labour can’t by any means come out of the earth, nor shall trouble spring out of the mountains:
7 yet man is born to labour, and even so the vulture's young seek the high places.
8 Nevertheless I will beseech the Lord, and will call upon the Lord, the sovereign of all;
9 who does great things and untraceable, glorious things also, and marvellous, of which there is no number:
10 who gives rain upon the earth, sending water on the earth:
11 who exalts the lowly, and raises up them that are lost:
12 frustrating the counsels of the crafty, and their hands shall not perform the truth:
13 who takes the wise in their wisdom, and subverts the counsel of the crafty
14 In the day darkness shall come upon them, and let them grope in the noon-day even as in the night:
15 and let them perish in war, and let the weak escape from the hand of the mighty.
16 And let the weak have hope, but the mouth of the unjust be stopped.
17 But blessed is the man whom the Lord has reproved; and reject not you the chastening of the Almighty.
18 for he causes a man to be in pain, and restores him again: he smites, and his hands heal.
19 Six time he shall deliver you out of distresses: and in the seventh harm shall not touch you.
20 In famine he shall deliver you from death: and in war he shall free you from the power of the sword.
21 He shall hide you from the scourge of the tongue: and you shall not be afraid of coming evils.
22 You shall laugh at the unrighteous and the lawless: and you shall not be afraid of wild beasts.
23 For the wild beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 Then shall you know that your house shall be at peace, and the provision for your tabernacle shall not fail.
25 And you shall know that your seed shall be abundant; and your children shall be like the herbage of the field.
26 And you shall come to the grave like ripe corn reaped in its season, or as a heap of the corn-flour collected in proper time.
27 Behold, we have thus sought out these matters; these are what we have heard: but do you reflect with yourself, if you have done anything wrong.