¹ Pray, call, is there any to answer thee? And unto which of the holy ones dost thou turn?

² For provocation slayeth the perverse, And envy putteth to death the simple,

³ I--I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway,

⁴ Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer.

⁵ Whose harvest the hungry doth eat, And even from the thorns taketh it, And the designing swallowed their wealth.

⁶ For sorrow cometh not forth from the dust, Nor from the ground springeth up misery.

⁷ For man to misery is born, And the sparks go high to fly.

⁸ Yet I--I inquire for God, And for God I give my word,

⁹ Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, till 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 subtile, And their hands do not execute wisdom.

¹³ Capturing the wise in their subtilty, And the counsel of wrestling ones was hastened,

¹⁴ By day they meet darkness, And as night--they grope at noon.

¹⁵ And He saveth the wasted from their mouth, And from a strong hand the needy,

¹⁶ And there is hope to the poor, And perverseness hath shut her mouth.

¹⁷ Lo, the happiness of mortal man, God doth reprove him: And the chastisement of the Mighty despise not,

¹⁸ For He doth pain, and He bindeth up, He smiteth, and His hands heal.

¹⁹ In six distresses He delivereth thee, And in seven evil striketh not on thee.

²⁰ In famine He hath redeemed thee from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword.

²¹ When the tongue scourgeth thou art hid, And thou art not afraid of destruction, When it cometh.

²² At destruction and at hunger thou mockest, And of the beast of the earth, Thou art not afraid.

²³ (For with sons of the field is thy covenant, And the beast of the field Hath been at peace with thee.)

²⁴ And thou hast known that thy tent is peace, And inspected thy habitation, and errest not,

²⁵ And hast known that numerous is Thy seed, And thine offspring as the herb of the earth;

²⁶ Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season.

²⁷ Lo, this--we searched it out--it is right, hearken; And thou, know for thyself!