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[1] CALL now, I pray you; is there any one to answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?
[2] For anger kills the foolish man, and enmity slays the silly one.
[3] I have seen the wicked prosper; but his habitation is suddenly destroyed.
[4] His children are far from salvation, and they are humiliated at the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.
[5] His harvest the hungry eat up; and they shall pour out water to the thirsty, and the thirsty devour their substance
[6] For falsehood does not come forth from the dust, nor does iniquity spring out of the ground;
[7] For man is born for trouble, as sure as the wild birds fly.
[8] But as for me. I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause,
[9] Who has done great things without limit; and marvellous things without number.
[10] Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends water upon the streets;
[11] To set up on high those that are lowly; and the meek shall be exalted by salvation.
[12] He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot wisely perform their enterprise.
[13] He takes the wise in their subtlety; and the counsel of the crafty is frustrated.
[14] They handle things in the daytime as though they were in darkness, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
[15] But he saves their lives from the sword, and the poor from the hand of the mighty.
[16] So there shall be hope for the poor, but the wicked shall shut his mouth
[17] Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; and he who does not despise the chastening of the Almighty;
[18] For it is he who wounds, and binds up; he smites, and his hands heal.
[19] He shall deliver you in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch you.
[20] In famine he shall deliver you from death; and in war from the power of the sword.
[21] You shall be protected from the scourge of the tongue; and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
[22] At plunder and famine you shall laugh; and you shall not fear the wild beasts.
[23] For you shall be in league with the stones of the field; and the wild beasts shall surrender to you.
[24] You shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace; and you shall return to your habitation, and shall not sin.
[25] You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
[26] You shall come to your grave gently, like a shock of grain in its season.
[27] Lo this thing we have searched, and it is so; we have heard it; and you know it for your good
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