¹Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

²For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

³I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

⁵Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

⁶Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

⁸I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

⁹Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

¹⁰Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

¹¹To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

¹²He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

¹³He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

¹⁸For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

¹⁹He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

²⁰In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

²²At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

²³For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

²⁴And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

²⁵Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

²⁷Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.