1 “Cry out now! Will anyone answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
3 I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
4 His sons are far from safety, and crushed at the gate without a deliverer!
5 The hungry consumes his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pants after their wealth.
6 For evil does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Yet man is born for trouble, as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 But as for me, I would seek God; I would lay my cause before God.
9 Who does great things beyond comprehension, wonders without number.
10 Who gives rain to the earth and sends water over the plains.
11 Who places the lowly on high and lifts mourners to salvation.
12 Who frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands attain no success.
13 Who catches the clever in their craftiness, and thwarts the plan of the cunning.
14 By day they encounter darkness and grope at noon as if it were night.
15 But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth, and from the clutches of the mighty.
16 So the helpless have hope and injustice shuts its mouth.
17 Behold, happy is the one whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of Shaddai.
18 For He inflicts pain, but He also binds up; He injures, yet His hands also heal.
19 From six calamities He will deliver you, even in seven, no harm will touch you.
20 In famine, He will redeem you from death, and in war, from the power of the sword.
21 You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and not fear when violence comes.
22 You will laugh at violence and famine, and will not fear the beasts of the earth.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 You will know shalom in your tent, and you will take stock of your home and find nothing missing.
25 “You will know that your descendants will be numerous your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You will come to the grave in vigor, like sheaves of grain in its season.
27 Behold, we have investigated this— it is true. Hear it, and apply it to yourself!”