Chapter 5

  Call, I pray thee! Is there any that answereth thee? and to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?  

--

  For vexation killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the simple.  

--

  I myself saw the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.  

--

  His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer:  

--

  Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh even out of the thorns; and the snare gapeth for his substance.  

--

  For evil cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;  

--

  For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.  

--

  But as for me I will seek unto ùGod, and unto God commit my cause;  

--

  Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;  

--

  Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;  

--

  Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.  

--

  He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, and their hands carry not out the enterprise.  

--

  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the wily is carried headlong:  

--

  They meet with darkness in a the daytime, and grope at midday as in the night.  

--

  And he saveth the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.  

--

  So the poor hath what he hopeth for, and unrighteousness stoppeth her mouth.  

--

  Behold, happy is the man whom +God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.  

--

  For he maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole.  

--

  He will deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven there shall no evil touch thee.  

--

  In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.  

--

  Thou shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue; and thou shalt not be afraid of destruction when it cometh.  

--

  At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, and of the beasts of the earth thou shalt not be afraid.  

--

  For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.  

--

  And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace; and thou wilt survey thy fold, and miss nothing.  

--

  And thou shalt know that thy seed is numerous, and thine offspring as the herb of the earth.  

--

  Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.  

--

  Behold this, we have searched it out, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thyself.  

--