Read the Bible

¹ "Call if you like, but will anyone answer?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
² For anger kills the fool,
and envy slays the silly.
³ I watch as a fool establishes roots,
but I curse his home with sudden [destruction] —
⁴ his children are far from help,
publicly humiliated, with no one to rescue;
⁵ the hungry eat up his harvest,
taking it even from among thorns,
while the thirsty are panting,
eager to swallow his wealth.
⁶ For misery does not come from the dust
or trouble spring from the ground.
⁷ No, people are born for trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸ "If I were you, I would seek God;
I would make my plea to him.
⁹ For God does great deeds beyond investigation,
wonders beyond all reckoning.
¹⁰ He gives rain to the earth,
pours water down on the fields.
¹¹ He raises the lowly on high
and lifts mourners to safety.
¹² He frustrates the schemes of the cunning,
so that they achieve no success;
¹³ trapping the crafty in their own tricks
and foiling quickly the plans of the false.
¹⁴ They meet with darkness during the day,
groping at noon like at night.
¹⁵ But he saves the poor from the sword, their mouth,
and from the clutches of the strong;
¹⁶ so the poor can hope again;
and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷ "How happy the person whom God corrects!
So don't despise Shaddai's discipline.
¹⁸ For he wounds, but he bandages the sore;
his hands may strike, but they also heal.
¹⁹ He will rescue you from six disasters;
yes, in seven no harm will touch you.
²⁰ In famine, he will save you from death,
and in war, from the power of the sword.
²¹ You will be shielded from the lash of the tongue,
and you won't have to fear destruction when it comes —
²² you'll be able to laugh at destruction and famine.
Also you won't have to fear wild animals,
²³ for you will be in league with the stones in the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
²⁴ You will know that your tent is safe;
you will look round your home and miss nothing.
²⁵ You will know that your descendants are many,
your offspring like grass [growing thick] in the fields.
²⁶ You will come to your grave at a ripe old age,
like a pile of grain that arrives in season.

²⁷ "We've looked into this, and that's how it is;
listen, and know that it's for your own good."