¹Call now and see if there is anyone who answers you.

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For wrath kills the foolish man,

And jealousy causes the simple-minded man to die.

³I have seen the foolish taking root,

But I suddenly realized how his home would be.

⁴His sons are far from salvation

And are crushed at the gate,

And there is no-one to deliver them,

⁵Whose harvest the hungry will eat,

Which they will take from among the thorns,

As destruction swallows up their wealth.

⁶Although sorrow does not come out of the soil,

And wretchedness does not sprout from the ground,

⁷Yet man is born to face toil,

As surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸But I would seek God,

And with God I would set out my case.

⁹He performs great deeds

Of which there is no searching out

– Wonders of which there is no limit.

¹⁰He provides rain on the surface of the earth,

And he sends water onto the surface of the open places.

¹¹He sets the lowly on high,

So that those who mourn are exalted in salvation,

¹²Frustrating the thoughts of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot perform with competence,

So that the counsel of the deceitful is forestalled.

¹⁴By day they meet with darkness,

And as at night, so they grope at noon.

¹⁵But he saves the poor from the sword

– From their blade –

And from the hand of the strong,

¹⁶So that the lowly have hope,

And injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷Behold, blessed is the man whom God reproves,

So do not reject the correction of the Almighty,

¹⁸For he causes pain,

But he binds up again;

He bruises,

But his hands heal again.

¹⁹He will deliver you from six adversities,

And in seven no harm will touch you.

²⁰In famine he will save you from death,

And in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of slander,

And you will not fear devastation

If it comes.

²²You will laugh at devastation and starvation,

And you will not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

And the wild beasts will be at peace with you.

²⁴And you will know that your tent is at peace,

And when you check your tent,

You will not miss anything.

²⁵And you will know that your seed is many,

And your offspring is as the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will go to the grave in ripe old age,

Like the gathering in of a stack of corn in its season.

²⁷Behold this account;

We have searched it out

– It is so.

Hear it and know it,

For your own sake.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 5: v.13 ↔ 1 Corinthians 3:19.