| 1 | Call now—is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn? |
| 2 | For
[a]vexation
and
rage kill the foolish man; jealousy
and
indignation slay the simple. |
| 3 | I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain]. |
| 4 | His children are far from safety; [involved in their father’s ruin] they are crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate, and there is no one to deliver them. |
| 5 | His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth. |
| 6 | For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground. |
| 7 | But man is born to trouble as the sparks
and
the flames fly upward. |
| 8 | As for me, I would seek God
and
inquire of
and
require Him, and to God would I commit my cause— |
| 9 | Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, |
| 10 | Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields, |
| 11 | So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety. |
| 12 | He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise
or
anything of [lasting] worth. |
| 13 | He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. |
| 14 | In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night. |
| 15 | But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty. |
| 16 | So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth. |
| 17 | Happy
and
fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise
or
reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering]. |
| 18 | For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal. |
| 19 | He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you. |
| 20 | In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. |
| 21 | You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. |
| 22 | At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth. |
| 23 | For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. |
| 24 | And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold
and
your dwelling and miss nothing [from them]. |
| 25 | You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. |
| 26 | You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season. |
| 27 | This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear
and
heed it and know for yourself [for your good]. |
Cross references:
-
Job 5:13 : I Cor. 3:19, 20.
|