Life’s problems
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.
The answer is God
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.
Divine favor
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.