Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both clow and high,
rich and poor together!
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my driddle to the music of the lyre.
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
8 for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.
10 For he sees that eeven the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever,1
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
12 Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is flike the beasts that perish.
13 This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.2 Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
15 But God will gransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will hreceive me. Selah
16 iBe not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies jhe will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, khe counts himself blessed—
and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again see llight.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
Sarai and Hagar
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had uborne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has vprevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children1 wby her.” And Abram xlistened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after yAbram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and zgave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, ashe looked with contempt on her bmistress.2 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7 cThe dangel of the Lord found her by a espring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, f“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,3
gbecause the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be a hwild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and ihe shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”4 for she said, “Truly here I have jseen him who looks after me.”5 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;6 it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And kHagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
