Chapter 5

  Call, I pray thee! Is there any that answereth thee? and to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?  

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  For vexation killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the simple.  

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  I myself saw 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, and there is no deliverer:  

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  Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh even out of the thorns; and the snare gapeth for his substance.  

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  For evil cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;  

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  For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.  

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  But as for me I will seek unto ùGod, and unto God commit my cause;  

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  Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;  

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  Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;  

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  Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.  

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  He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, and their hands carry not out the enterprise.  

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  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the wily is carried headlong:  

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  They meet with darkness in a the daytime, and grope at midday as in the night.  

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  And he saveth the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.  

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  So the poor hath what he hopeth for, and unrighteousness stoppeth her mouth.  

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  Behold, happy is the man whom +God correcteth; therefore despise not 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, and 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 hidden from the scourge of the tongue; and thou shalt not be afraid of destruction when it cometh.  

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  At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, and of the beasts of the earth thou shalt not be afraid.  

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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 wilt survey thy fold, and miss nothing.  

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  And thou shalt know that thy seed is numerous, and thine offspring as the herb of the earth.  

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  Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.  

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  Behold this, we have searched it out, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thyself.  

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