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].