5:1 CALL NOW--is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn? |
5:2 For vexation {and} rage kill the foolish man; jealousy {and} indignation slay the simple. |
5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain]. |
5:4 His children are far from safety; [involved in their father's ruin] they are crushed in the [court of justice in the city's] gate, and there is no one to deliver them. |
5:5 His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth. |
5:6 For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground. |
5:7 But man is born to trouble as the sparks {and} the flames fly upward. |
5:8 As for me, I would seek God {and} inquire of {and} require Him, and to God would I commit my cause-- |
5:9 Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, |
5:10 Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields, |
5:11 So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety. |
5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise {or} anything of [lasting] worth. |
5:13 He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. |
5:14 In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night. |
5:15 But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty. |
5:16 So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth. |
5:17 Happy {and} fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise {or} reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering]. |
5:18 For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal. |
5:19 He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will 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 hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. |
5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures 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 And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold {and} your dwelling and miss nothing [from them]. |
5:25 You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. |
5:26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season. |
5:27 This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear {and} heed it and know for yourself [for your good]. |