✧Call now; is there any that will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn? ✧2For vexation killeth the foolish man, And jealousy 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 snare gapeth for their substance. ✧6For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; ✧7But man is born unto trouble, As the sparks fly upward. ✧8But as for me, I would seek unto God, And unto God would I commit my cause; ✧9Who doeth great things and unsearchable, Marvellous things without number: ✧10Who giveth rain upon the earth, And sendeth waters upon the fields; ✧11So that he setteth up on high those that are low, And those that mourn are exalted to safety. ✧12He frustrateth 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 cunning is carried headlong. ✧14They meet with darkness in the day-time, And grope at noonday as in the night. ✧15But he saveth from the sword of their mouth, Even the needy 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 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 shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. ✧22At destruction and dearth 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 tent is in peace; And thou shalt visit thy fold, and shalt miss nothing. ✧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 grain cometh in in its season. ✧27Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.