When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.

The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion,
But his favor is like dew on the grass.

At the last it bites like a serpent
And stings like a viper.

And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda,
Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.

Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,
So honor is not fitting for a fool.

Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
So a curse without cause does not alight.

There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords
And his jaw teeth like knives,
To devour the afflicted from the earth
And the needy from among men.