1“Call out now, will anyone answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2For bitterness kills the foolish person, and envy slays the simple-minded.
3I have seen a foolish person putting down roots, but suddenly I condemned his home.
4His children are far from safety; they are crushed at the city gate, with no one to rescue them.
5The hungry take their harvest, even taking it from among thorns. A trap lies open for their wealth.
6For suffering does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
7but people are born for trouble, just as sparks fly upward.
8“But as for me, I would seek God. I would present my case to God.
9who does great and amazing things that cannot be understood or counted;
10who gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields;
11so that he raises up the humble and brings the grieving to safety.
12He ruins the plans of the clever so that they cannot carry out their schemes.
13He traps the wise in their own cleverness; the advice of the cunning comes to a swift end.
14They stumble in the daytime as if it were dark, and grope at noon as if it were night.
15But he saves the needy from the hurtful words of the powerful, and from their grasp.
16So the poor have hope, and injustice is silenced.
17“Look, the person whom God corrects is happy. So do not ignore the discipline of the Almighty.
18For He wounds, but He also bandages. He hurts, but His hands also heal.
19He will rescue you from six troubles; and in seven, no evil will harm you.
20During a time of hunger, He will save you from death; and in war, from the power of the sword.
21You will be safe from hurtful gossip, and you will not be afraid when disaster strikes.
22You will laugh at disaster and hunger, and you will not be afraid of wild animals.
23For you will have an agreement with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
24You will know that your home is secure. When you check your livestock, you will find nothing missing.
25You will also know that your children will be many, as numerous as the grass of the earth.
26You will reach your grave in old age, like bundles of grain gathered in their season.
27This is what we have discovered, and it is true. Listen to it and understand it for your own good.”