1. “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2. Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
3. I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
4. His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
5. The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6. For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
8. “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
9. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
10. He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside.
11. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
14. Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.