1CALL now, I pray you; is there any one to answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

2For anger kills the foolish man, and enmity slays the silly one.

3I have seen the wicked prosper; but his habitation is suddenly destroyed.

4His children are far from salvation, and they are humiliated at the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

5His harvest the hungry eat up; and they shall pour out water to the thirsty, and the thirsty devour their substance.

6For falsehood does not come forth from the dust, nor does iniquity spring out of the ground;

7For man is born for trouble, as sure as the wild birds fly.

8But as for me. I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause,

9Who has done great things without limit; and marvellous things without number.

10Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends water upon the streets;

11To set up on high those that are lowly; and the meek shall be exalted by salvation.

12He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot wisely perform their enterprise.

13He takes the wise in their subtlety; and the counsel of the crafty is frustrated.

14They handle things in the daytime as though they were in darkness, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

15But he saves their lives from the sword, and the poor from the hand of the mighty.

16So there shall be hope for the poor, but the wicked shall shut his mouth.

17Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; and he who does not despise the chastening of the Almighty;

18For it is he who wounds, and binds up; he smites, and his hands heal.

19He shall deliver you in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch you.

20In famine he shall deliver you from death; and in war from the power of the sword.

21You shall be protected from the scourge of the tongue; and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

22At plunder and famine you shall laugh; and you shall not fear the wild beasts.

23For you shall be in league with the stones of the field; and the wild beasts shall surrender to you.

24You shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace; and you shall return to your habitation, and shall not sin.

25You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth.

26You shall come to your grave gently, like a shock of grain in its season.

27Lo this thing we have searched, and it is so; we have heard it; and you know it for your good.