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[1] But call, if any one will hearken to thee, or if thou shalt 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 cannot 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 thou 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 thee out of distresses: and in the seventh harm shall not touch thee.
[20] In famine he shall deliver thee from death: and in war he shall free thee from the power of the sword.
[21] He shall hide thee from the scourge of the tongue: and thou shalt not be afraid of coming evils.
[22] Thou shalt laugh at the unrighteous and the lawless: and thou shalt not be afraid of wild beasts.
[23] For the wild beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
[24] Then shalt thou know that thy house shall be at peace, and the provision for thy tabernacle shall not fail.
[25] And thou shalt know that thy seed shall be abundant; and thy children shall be like the herbage of the field.
[26] And thou shalt 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 thou reflect with thyself, if thou hast done anything wrong.
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