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5:1 'Call now;is there any one who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? 5:2 Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. 5:3 I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. 5:4 His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. 5:5 His harvest the hungry eat, and he takes it even out of thorns;and the thirsty pant after his wealth. 5:6 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground; 5:7 but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. 5:8 'As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause; 5:9 who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: 5:10 he gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields; 5:11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. 5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. 5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness;and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. 5:15 But he saves the fatherless from their mouth, the needy from the hand of the mighty. 5:16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. 5:17 'Behold, happy is the man whom God reproves;therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty. 5:18 For he wounds, but he binds up;he smites, but his hands heal. 5:19 He will deliver you from six troubles;in seven there shall no evil touch you. 5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 5:21 You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. 5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. 5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 5:24 You shall know that your tent is safe, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. 5:25 You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. 5:26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season. 5:27 Lo, this we have searched out;it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.'