5 Call out. Will anyone answer you?
    To which holy one will you turn?
² Surely anger can kill the foolish;
    fury can kill the simple.
³ I’ve seen the foolish take root
    and promptly curse their house.
⁴ Their children are far^[a] from safety,
    crushed in the gate without a deliverer.
⁵ The hungry devour^[b] their crops;
    it’s taken even from the thorns,^[c]
    and the thirsty pant after their yield.
⁶ Surely trouble doesn’t come from dust,
    nor does distress sprout from the ground.
⁷ Surely humans are born to distress,
    just as sparks rise up.

⁸ But I would seek God,
        put my case to God,
⁹     who does great things beyond comprehension,
    wonderful things without number;
¹⁰     who provides rain over the earth’s surface,
    sends water to the open country,
¹¹     exalts the lowly,
        raises mourners to victory;
¹²     who frustrates the schemes of the clever
        so that their hands achieve no success,
¹³     trapping the wise in their cleverness
            so that the plans of the devious don’t succeed.
¹⁴ They encounter darkness during the day,
    and at noon they fumble about as at night.
¹⁵ Yet he rescues the orphan^[d] from the sword of their mouth,
    the needy from the grip of the strong;
¹⁶         so the poor have hope
        and violence shuts its mouth.

¹⁷ Look, happy is the person whom God corrects;
    so don’t reject the Almighty’s instruction.
¹⁸ He injures, but he binds up;
    he strikes, but his hands heal.
¹⁹ From six adversities he will deliver you;
    from seven harm won’t touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will ransom you from death;
    in war, from the power of the sword.
²¹ You will be hidden from the tongue’s sting,
    and you won’t fear destruction when it comes.
²² You will laugh at destruction and hunger;
    you won’t be afraid of wild beasts;
²³         for you will make an agreement with the stones of the field;
        and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure.
    You will examine your home and miss nothing.
²⁵ You will know that you’ll have many children.
    Your offspring will be like the grass of the earth.
²⁶ You will come to your grave in old age
    as bundles of grain stacked up at harvesttime.
²⁷ Look, we’ve searched this out, and so it is;
    listen and find out for yourself.