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I have seen a fool spreading his roots,(A)
    but I cursed his household suddenly:
May his children be far from safety;
    may they be crushed at the gate[a] without a rescuer.
What they have reaped may the hungry eat up,
    or God take away by blight,
    or the thirsty swallow their substance.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:4 At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered.

In your place, I would appeal to God,
    and to God I would state my plea.
[a]He does things great and unsearchable,
    things marvelous and innumerable.
10 He gives rain upon the earth
    and sends water upon the fields;
11 (A)He sets up the lowly on high,
    and those who mourn are raised to safety.
12 He frustrates the plans of the cunning,
    so that their hands achieve no success;
13 He catches the wise in their own ruses,(B)
    and the designs of the crafty are routed.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
    at noonday they grope as though it were night.
15 But he saves the poor from the sword of their mouth,[b]
    from the hand of the mighty.
16 Thus the needy have hope,
    and iniquity closes its mouth.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:9 Perhaps to be omitted here; it is a duplicate of 9:10.
  2. 5:15 From the sword of their mouth: the Hebrew is obscure.