Words of the Wise

• 17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise;
  • you shall apply your heart[fn] to my teaching.
• 18 For it is pleasant if you guard them within you ;[fn]
  • together they will be ready upon your lips.
• 19 In order for your trust to be in Yahweh,
  • I have made them known to you today[fn]—even[fn] you.
• 20 Have I not written for you thirty sayings
  • with admonitions and knowledge?
• 21 In order to show you what is right—sayings of truth—
  • in order to return a true saying to him who sent you.
• 22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
  • and do not crush the afflicted at the gate;
• 23 For Yahweh will plead their case
  • and despoil those who despoil them of life.[fn]
• 24 Do not befriend an owner[fn] of anger ,[fn]
  • and with a man of wrath you shall not associate;
• 25 lest you learn his way
  • and become entangled in a snare to yourself.[fn]
• 26 Do not be with those who give a pledge[fn]
  • by becoming[fn] surety.
• 27 If there is nothing for you to pay,[fn]
  • why will he take your bed from under you?
• 28 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker
  • which your ancestors[fn] made.
• 29 A man who is skillful in his work, you shall see:
  • before kings, he will serve;
  • he will not serve before the commoners.
  
  
• 23 When you sit to eat with a ruler,
  • you shall surely observe what is before you,
• 2 and you shall put a knife to your throat
  • if you have a big appetite .[fn]
• 3 Do not desire his delicacies,
  • for[fn] it is food of deception.
• 4 Do not tire in order to become rich;
  • out of your understanding, may you desist.
• 5 Your eyes will alight[fn] on it, but there is nothing to it,
  • for suddenly it will make for itself wings
  • like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.
• 6 Do not eat the bread of the stingy ,[fn]
  • and do not desire his delicacies.
• 7 For, like hair in his throat ,[fn] so it is.[fn]
  • “Eat and drink!” he will say to you,
  • but his heart will not be with you.
• 8 Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up,
  • and you will waste your pleasant words.
• 9 In the ears of a fool do not speak,
  • for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
• 10 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,
  • and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;
• 11 For their redeemer is strong,
  • he himself will plead their cause against you.
• 12 Apply your heart[fn] to instruction,
  • and your ear to sayings of knowledge.
• 13 Do not withhold discipline from a child,
  • if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.
• 14 As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,
  • and his life[fn] you will save from Sheol.[fn]
• 15 My child, if your heart[fn] is wise,
  • my heart will be glad—even me!
• 16 And my insides[fn] will rejoice
  • when your lips speak what is upright.
• 17 May your heart[fn] not envy the sinners,
  • but live in fear of Yahweh all day .[fn]
• 18 Surely[fn] there is a future,
  • and your hope will not be cut off.
• 19 You, my child, hear and be wise,
  • and direct your heart[fn] on the road.
• 20 Do not be among drinkers of wine,
  • among gluttonous eaters of their meat .[fn]
• 21 For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor,
  • and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.
• 22 Listen to your father—he who gave you life ,[fn]
  • and do not despise your mother when[fn] she is old.
• 23 Buy truth and do not sell it,
  • wisdom and instruction and understanding.
• 24 The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;
  • he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.
• 25 May your father and your mother be glad,
  • and may she who bore you rejoice.
• 26 My child, may you give your heart[fn] to me,
  • and may your eyes delight in my ways.
• 27 For a deep pit is a prostitute,[fn]
  • and a narrow well is an adulteress .[fn]
• 28 She is also like a robber lying in wait,
  • and the faithless among mankind she increases.
• 29 To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint?
  • To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is redness of the eyes?
• 30 To those who linger over wine,
  • to those who come to try mixed wine.
• 31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
  • when it sparkles[fn] on the cup,
  • going down smoothly.
• 32 In the end ,[fn] it will bite like a serpent,
  • and it will sting like an adder.
• 33 Your eyes will see strange things,
  • and your heart[fn] will speak perverse things.
• 34 And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea,
  • and like him who lies down on top of a mast.
• 35 “They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it.
  • When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again.”
  
  
• 24 Do not envy men of evil,
  • and do not desire to be with them.
• 2 For their minds will devise violence,
  • and their lips will speak mischief.
• 3 By wisdom a house is built,
  • and by understanding it is established.
• 4 And by knowledge, rooms are filled
  • with all riches, precious and pleasant.
• 5 The warrior of wisdom is in strength,
  • and a man of knowledge is strong in power.
• 6 For with wise guidance you shall make war for yourself,
  • and victory is in an abundance of counsel.
• 7 Wisdom is too high for fools;
  • at the gate he will not open his mouth.
• 8 He who plans to do evil for[fn] himself,
  • they will call him “master[fn] of mischief.”
• 9 Devising folly is a sin,
  • and an abomination to humankind is a scoffer.
• 10 If you faint on the day of adversity,
  • little is your strength.
• 11 Rescue those who are led away to the death
  • and those who stagger to the slaughter. If you hold back,
• 12 if you say, “Look, we do not know this,”
  • does not he who weighs hearts perceive it?
  • And he who keeps your soul,[fn]
  • he knows and will repay humankind according to his deeds.
• 13 My child, eat honey, for it is good,
  • and the dripping of the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
• 14 Thus know wisdom for the sake of your soul,[fn]
  • if you find it, then there is a future,
  • and your hope will not be cut off.
• 15 Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous;
  • do not do violence to his dwelling place.
• 16 For seven times the righteous will fall, but he will rise,
  • but the wicked will be overthrown by calamity.
• 17 While your enemies are falling, do not rejoice;
  • when he trips himself, may your heart[fn] not be glad
• 18 lest Yahweh see and it be evil in his eyes,
  • and turn his anger away from him.
• 19 Do not fret because of the evildoers;
  • do not envy the wicked.
• 20 For there will not be a future for the evil;
  • the lamp of the wicked will die out.
• 21 Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king;
  • with those who change, do not associate.
• 22 For suddenly their disaster will come,
  • and the ruin of both of them ,[fn] who knows?
• 23 These sayings are also for the wise:
  • Partiality[fn] in judgment is not good.
• 24 Whoever says to the guilty, “You are righteous,” the people will curse him;
  • the nations will abhor him.
• 25 But they who rebuke will have delight,
  • and upon them blessings of goodness will come.
• 26 He will kiss the lips,
  • he who gives an honest answer.
• 27 Prepare your work in the street and get it ready for yourself in the field;
  • afterward, then[fn] you shall build your house.
• 28 Do not be a witness without cause against your neighbor
  • nor deceive with your lips.
• 29 Do not say, “Just as he has done to me, so shall I do to him;
  • I will pay back the man according to his deed.”
• 30 I passed by the field of a lazy person,
  • and over the vineyard of a person lacking sense ;[fn]
• 31 and behold, it was overgrown—all of it was covered with thorns, its surface with nettles,
  • and its stone wall[fn] was broken down.
• 32 Then I myself saw and my heart[fn] considered;
  • I looked, and I took hold of instruction:
• 33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
  • a little folding of the hands for rest,
• 34 and your poverty will come running,
  • and your lack like an armed warrior.