Top of Page
Page Style
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For anger kills the foolish man,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root,
but his habitation was quickly accursed.
4 His children are far from safety,
they are crushed at the city gate,
and there is no one to deliver.
5 His harvest the hungry consume,
taking it even from among thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For affliction does not spring up from the soil,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Yet man is born for trouble,
as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 “But if it were me, I would appeal to God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
9 He does great and unsearchable things,
wonderous deeds without number.
10 He gives rain to the earth,
and sends water on the fields.
11 Those who are lowly He sets on high,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He frustrates the schemes of the crafty,
so that their hands cannot achieve success.
13 He traps the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are quickly brought to an end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
and from the clutches of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.
17 “Look and see,
blessed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18 For He injures, but He also binds up;
He wounds, but His hands also heal.
19 He shall deliver you in six troubles;
in seven no harm will touch you.
20 In famine He will redeem you from death,
and in battle, from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be protected from the scourge of the tongue,
and you will not fear destruction when it comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and you will not fear the wild beasts of the earth.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your tent is secure;
when you visit your dwelling you will find nothing missing.
25 You will know that your descendants will be many,
and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You will come to your grave at a ripe old age,
as a mound of sheaves is gathered in its season.
27 “We have investigated this thoroughly, and it is true.
So hear it and understand it for yourself.”