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1 Call now, see if any will answer thee! And to which of the holy ones wilt thou look? 2 Verily grief destroyeth the fool, And wrath consumeth the weak man. 3 I have seen an impious man taking root, But soon I cursed his habitation. 4 His children are far from safety; They are oppressed at the gate, and there is none to deliver them. 5 His harvest the hungry devour, Carrying it even through the thorns; And a snare gapeth after his substance. 6 For affliction cometh not from the dust, Nor doth trouble spring up from the ground; 7 Behold, man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. 8 I would look to God, And to God would I commit my cause, 9 Who doeth great things and unsearchable; Yea, marvellous things without number; 10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, And sendeth water upon the fields; 11 Who placeth the lowly in high places, And restoreth the afflicted to prosperity; 12 Who disappointeth the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot perform their enterprises; 13 Who taketh the wise in their own craftiness, And bringeth to nought the counsel of the artful. 14 They meet with darkness in the daytime; They grope at noon as if it were night. 15 So he saveth the persecuted from their mouth; The oppressed from the hand of the mighty. 16 So the poor hath hope, And iniquity stoppeth her mouth. 17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For he bruiseth, and bindeth up; He woundeth, and his hands make whole. 19 In six troubles will he deliver thee; Yea, in seven shall no evil touch thee. 20 In famine he will redeem thee from death, And in war from the power of the sword. 21 Thou shalt be safe from the scourge of the tongue, And shalt not be afraid of destruction, when it cometh. 22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, And of the wild beasts of the land shalt thou not be afraid. 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; Yea, the beasts of the forest shall be at peace with thee. 24 Thou shalt find that thy tent is in peace; Thou shalt visit thy dwelling, and not be disappointed. 25 Thou shalt see thy descendants numerous, And thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in full age, As a shock of corn gathered in its season. 27 Lo! this we have searched out; so it is: Hear it, and lay it up in thy mind!