Dual Panel1CALL NOW--is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn?
2For vexation {and} rage kill the foolish man; jealousy {and} indignation slay the simple.
3I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain].
4His 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.
5His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth.
6For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground.
7But man is born to trouble as the sparks {and} the flames fly upward.
8As for me, I would seek God {and} inquire of {and} require Him, and to God would I commit my cause--
9Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number,
10Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields,
11So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety.
12He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise {or} anything of [lasting] worth.
13He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end.
14In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night.
15But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth.
17Happy {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].
18For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal.
19He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you.
20In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth.
23For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold {and} your dwelling and miss nothing [from them].
25You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season.
27This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear {and} heed it and know for yourself [for your good].