1 Call out! Will anyone answer you?

Which of the holy ones  * will you turn to?

2 For anger kills a fool,

and jealousy slays the gullible.  *

3 I have seen a fool taking root,

but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

4 His children are far from safety.

They are crushed at the city gate,  *

with no one to rescue them.

5 The hungry consume his harvest,

even taking it out of the thorns.  *

The thirsty  * pant for his children’s wealth.

6 For distress does not grow out of the soil,

and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

7 But humans are born for trouble  *

as surely as sparks fly upward.

8 However, if I were you, I would appeal to God

and would present my case to him.  *

9 He does great  * and unsearchable things,

wonders without number.  *

10 He gives rain to the earth

and sends water to the fields.  *

11 He sets the lowly on high,

and mourners are lifted to safety.  *

12 He frustrates the schemes of the crafty

so that they  *  achieve no success.

13 He traps the wise in their craftiness

so that the plans of the deceptive

are quickly brought to an end.  *

14 They encounter darkness by day,

and they grope at noon

as if it were night.  *

15 He saves the needy from their sharp words  *,*

and from the clutches of the powerful.

16 So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth.  *

17 See how happy is the person whom God corrects;

so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.  *

19 He will rescue you from six calamities;

no harm will touch you in seven.

20 In famine he will redeem you from death,

and in battle, from the power of the sword.  *

21 You will be safe from slander  *

and not fear destruction when it comes.  *

22 You will laugh at destruction and hunger

and not fear the land’s wild creatures.

23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.  *

24 You will know that your tent is secure,  *

and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

25 You will also know that your offspring will be many

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

26 You will approach the grave  * in full vigor,  *

as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.

27 We have investigated this, and it is true!

Hear it and understand it for yourself.