5:1  "Call now; is there any one who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

5:2  Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.

5:3  I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

5:4  His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

5:5  His harvest the hungry eat, and he takes it even out of thorns; and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

5:6  For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground;

5:7  but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

5:8  "As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause;

5:9  who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number:

5:10  he gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields;

5:11  he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

5:12  He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

5:13  He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

5:14  They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night.

5:15  But he saves the fatherless from their mouth, the needy from the hand of the mighty.

5:16  So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

5:17  "Behold, happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.

5:18  For he wounds, but he binds up; he smites, but his hands heal.

5:19  He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven there shall no evil touch you.

5:20  In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

5:21  You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

5:22  At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

5:23  For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

5:24  You shall know that your tent is safe, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

5:25  You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.

5:26  You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.

5:27  Lo, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good."