Chapter 5

  Call now; is there any that will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?  

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  For vexation killeth the foolish man, And jealousy slayeth the silly one.  

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  I have seen the foolish taking root: But suddenly I cursed his habitation.  

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  His children are far from safety, And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them:  

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  Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, And taketh it even out of the thorns; And the snare gapeth for their substance.  

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  For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;  

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  But man is born unto trouble, As the sparks fly upward.  

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  But as for me, I would seek unto God, And unto God would I commit my cause;  

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  Who doeth great things and unsearchable, Marvellous things without number:  

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  Who giveth rain upon the earth, And sendeth waters upon the fields;  

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  So that he setteth up on high those that are low, And those that mourn are exalted to safety.  

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  He frustrateth the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.  

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  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.  

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  They meet with darkness in the day-time, And grope at noonday as in the night.  

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  But he saveth from the sword of their mouth, Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.  

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  So the poor hath hope, And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.  

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  Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.  

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  For he maketh sore, and bindeth up; He woundeth, and his hands make whole.  

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  He will deliver thee in six troubles; Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.  

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  In famine he will redeem thee from death; And in war from the power of the sword.  

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  Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.  

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  At destruction and dearth thou shalt laugh; Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.  

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  For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.  

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  And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace; And thou shalt visit thy fold, and shalt miss nothing.  

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  Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, And thine offspring as the grass of the earth.  

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  Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, Like as a shock of grain cometh in in its season.  

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  Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.  

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