Moff PROV Chapter 17

17 

Better a morsel of dry bread and peace

than a house full of banqueting and quarrels.

2 

An able slave is put over a profligate son;

he shares the property with the brothers.

3 

The smelter for silver, the furnace for gold,

and the Eternal for testing the heart!

4 

Only a base man listens to malicious words;

only the false attend to mischievous talk.

5 

A man who mocks the unfortunate arraigns his Maker;

he who rejoices at their woes shall not go unpunished.

6 

Grandchildren are the crown of an old man,

and the glory of children is their father.

7 

Talk about virtue is not for a churl;

much less are lies for a noble soul!

8 

A bribe is a lucky stone, its owner thinks;

it brings him luck at every turn.

9 

He fosters good feeling who keeps quiet about some wrong:

the man who gossips about it divides friend from friend.

10 

A rebuke sinks deeper into a man of sense

than a hundred lashes into a fool.

16 

Why does a fool offer the sage a fee,

when he has no mind to learn?

12 

Better meet a bear robbed of her whelps

than a fool in his folly.

11 

Rebels are out for mischief,

but the king will send a cruel force against them.

13 

He who returns evil for good,

evil never leaves his house.

14 

Strife starts with idle words:

cease arguing or you will quarrel.

15 

He who acquits the guilty and he who condemns the innocent,

the Eternal loathes the pair of them.

17 

A friend is always a friend,

he is a born brother for adversity.

18 

He is devoid of sense who goes bail,

who becomes surety for another man.

19 

He who is fond of strife is fond of getting wounded;

he who talks arrogantly courts disaster.

20 

A false heart never comes to any good;

a false tongue comes to grief.

21 

A fool is born to be a sorrow to his father;

there is no joy for the father of an idiot.

25 

A silly son is a grief to his father,

and bitterness to her who bore him.

22 

A glad heart helps and heals:

a broken spirit saps vitality.

23 

Bad men accept a secret bribe,

to twist the course of justice.

24 

The thoughtful are absorbed in wisdom,

but a fool’s eyes go roaming far and wide.

26 

It is not fair to fine the innocent

and most unfair to scourge a noble soul.

27 

A man of sense is sparing of his words;

the prudent will keep cool.

28 

Even a fool may pass for wise, if he says nothing

with closed lips he may be counted sensible