1Call now, is there any who will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones will thou turn? 2For vexation kills the foolish man, and jealousy slays the silly one. 3I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. 4His sons are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, 5whose harvest the hungry eat up, and takes it even out of the thorns, and the snare gapes for their substance. 6For affliction does not come forth from the dust, nor does trouble spring out of the ground, 7but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 8But as for me, I would seek to God. And to God I would commit my cause, 9who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, 10who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields, 11so that he sets up on high those who are low, and those who mourn are exalted to safety. 12He frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. 14They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. 15But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty. 16So a poor man has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth. 17Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise thou the chastening of the Almighty. 18For he injures, and binds up. He wounds, and his hands make whole. 19He will deliver thee in six troubles. Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 20In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 21Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue. Neither shall thou be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22At destruction and dearth thou shall laugh, nor shall thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23For thou shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24And thou shall know that thy tent is in peace, and thou shall visit thy fold, and shall miss nothing. 25Thou shall know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26Thou shall come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season. 27Lo this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.