5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
5:2 For wrath kills the foolish person,
and anger slays the silly one.
5:3 I myself have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.
5:4 His children are far from safety,
and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered,
nor is there anyone to deliver them.
5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest,
and take it even from behind the thorns,
and the thirsty swallow up their fortune.
5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust,
nor does trouble spring up from the ground,
5:7 but people are born to trouble,
as surely as the sparks fly upward.
5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would set forth my case.
5:9 He does great and unsearchable things,
marvelous things without number;
5:10 he gives rain on the earth,
and sends water on the fields;
5:11 he sets the lowly on high,
that those who mourn are raised to safety.
5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty
so that their hands cannot accomplish
what they had planned!
5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.
5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope about in the noontime as if it were night.
5:15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth,
even the poor from the hand of the powerful.
5:16 Thus the poor have hope,
and iniquity shuts its mouth.
5:17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects,
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
5:18 For he wounds, but he also bandages;
he strikes, but his hands also heal.
5:19 He will deliver you from six calamities;
yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
5:20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death,
and in time of war from the power of the sword.
5:21 You will be protected from malicious gossip,
and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.
5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine
and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
5:24 And you will know that your home
will be secure,
and when you inspect your domains,
you will not be missing anything.
5:25 You will also know that your children will be numerous,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age,
As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.
5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.
Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”