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¹ "Pray, call, is there any to answer you? And to which of the holy ones do you turn?² For provocation slays the perverse, || And envy puts to death the simple,³ I have seen the perverse taking root, || And I mark his habitation straight away,⁴ His sons are far from safety, || And they are bruised in the gate, || And there is no deliverer.⁵ Whose harvest the hungry eat, || And even take it from the thorns, || And the designing swallowed their wealth.

⁶ For sorrow does not come forth from the dust, || Nor does misery spring up from the ground.⁷ For man is born to misery, || And the sparks go high to fly.⁸ Yet I inquire for God, || And for God I give my word,⁹ Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, until there is no numbering.¹⁰ Who is giving rain on the face of the land, || And is sending waters on the out-places.¹¹ To set the low on a high place, || And the mourners have been high [in] safety.¹² Making void thoughts of the cunning, || And their hands do not execute wisdom.¹³ Capturing the wise in their subtlety, || And the counsel of wrestling ones was hurried,¹⁴ By day they meet darkness, || And as night—they grope at noon.¹⁵ He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth, || And from a strong hand,¹⁶ And there is hope for the poor, || And perverseness has shut her mouth.

¹⁷ Behold, the blessedness of mortal man, || God reproves him: And do not despise the discipline of the Mighty,¹⁸ For He pains, and He binds up, || He strikes, and His hands heal.¹⁹ In six distresses He delivers you, || And in seven evil does not strike on you.²⁰ In famine He has redeemed you from death, || And in battle from the hands of the sword.²¹ When the tongue scourges you are hid, || And you are not afraid of destruction, || When it comes.²² At destruction and at hunger you mock, || And of the beast of the earth, || You are not afraid.²³ (For with sons of the field [is] your covenant, || And the beast of the field || Has been at peace with you.)²⁴ And you have known that your tent [is] peace, || And inspected your habitation, and do not err,²⁵ And have known that your seed [is] numerous, || And your offspring as the herb of the earth;²⁶ You come in full age to the grave, || As the going up of a stalk in its season.²⁷ Behold, this—we searched it out—it [is] right, listen; And you, know for yourself!"