5
1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee,
and to which of the Kedoshim (holy ones) wilt thou turn?
2 For ka'as (anger) killeth the foolish man,
and kinah (envy) slayeth the simple one.
3 I have seen the fool taking shoresh (root),
but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4 His banim are far from yesha (safety, salvation),
and they are crushed in the sha'ar (gate, before the public),
neither is there any to deliver them.
5 Whose katzir (harvest) the hungry eateth up,
and taketh it even from among of the tzinnim (thorns),
and the intriguer pants after their wealth.
6 Although affliction springeth not forth of the aphar (dust),
neither doth amal (trouble, tzoros) sprout out of the adamah;
7 Yet adam is born unto amal (trouble, tzoros),
even as sparks fly upward.
8 I would seek El (G-d),
and before Elohim would I lay my cause;
9 Who doeth gedolot unsearchable,
marvellous things without mispar;
10 Who giveth matar upon eretz,
and sendeth mayim upon the fields;
11 To set up on high those that be the shefalim (the lowly ones);
that those which mourn may be exalted to safety,
12 Thwarting the machshevot of the arumim (crafty ones),
so that their hands cannot accomplish tushiyyah (success).
13 He taketh the chachamim in their own arum (craftiness),
and the etzah of the wily is swiftly swept away.
14 They meet with choshech in the daytime,
and grope in the noonday as in the lailah,
15 But He saveth the needy from the cherev of their mouth,
and from the yad chazak.
16 So the poor hath tikveh,
and olatah (perversity, wickedness) stoppeth her mouth.
17 Hinei, ashrei is the enosh whom Eloah correcteth;
therefore despise not thou the musar (chastening) of Shaddai;
18 For He woundeth, and bindeth up;
He injureth, and His yadayim (hands) heal.
19 He shall deliver thee in shesh tzoros;
yea, in shivah there shall no rah touch thee.
20 In ra'av (famine) He shall redeem thee from mavet;
and in milchamah from the power of the cherev.
21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the leshon,
neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh;
neither shalt thou be afraid of the chayyat ha'aretz.
23 For thou shalt be in league with the avanim of the sadeh,
and the chayyat sadeh shall be hashelemah (at peace) with thee.
24 And thou shalt know that shalom shall be thy ohel;
and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and find nothing wanting.
25 Thou shalt know also that thy zera shall be rav,
and thine offspring as the esev ha'aretz.
26 Thou shalt come to thy kever in a ripe age,
like a shock of grain cometh in its season.
27 Hinei zot, this we have searched out, so it is;
hear it, and apply thou it for thy good.