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PRO EN_UST en_English_ltr Mon Apr 29 2024 14:15:26 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) tc
Proverbs
1 These are the wise sayings said by Solomon. He was David’s son and Israel’s king.
2 These wise sayings are for knowing what is wise and instructive.
They are for understanding insightful things that people say.
3 These wise sayings are for instructing someone about what is insightful,
righteous, just, and honest.
4 They are for making naive people prudent,
and for making young people knowledgeable and discreet.
5 (Let wise people listen to these wise sayings and learn more.
Indeed, let these sayings guide understanding people so that they know what to do.)
6 These wise sayings are for understanding wise sayings and parables.
Indeed, they are for understanding what wise people say and the riddles they tell.
7 In order to become knowledgeable, a person must begin by deeply respecting Yahweh.
But foolish people detest what is wise or instructive.
8 My child, listen carefully to what I, your father, am teaching you.
Indeed, obey the rules that your mother has commanded.
9 Obey your parents’ teaching because then people will admire and respect you; it will be as if those teachings were an attractive wreath on your head,
or beautiful necklaces around your neck.
10 My child, if sinful people tempt you to sin with them,
refuse to do so.
11 Those sinful people may say, “Join us!
We will hide and wait in order to kill someone who walks by.
Indeed, we will hide ourselves in order to suddenly attack an innocent person for no good reason.
12 We will kill living people completely, as if we were their grave.
Yes, we will kill healthy people, as if they could not escape dying.
13 We will discover many valuable treasures!
We will fill our houses with what we steal!
14 Join our gang!
We will share all the loot between us.”
15 My child, do not associate with those sinful people!
Prevent yourself from doing the things that they do!
16 Avoid those sinners because they are eager to do wicked things.
They even rush to murder people.
17 It is useless for a hunter to put out a net to trap a bird
while the bird is watching because the bird will avoid the net.
18 However, these sinful people are more foolish than birds. They hide in wait, but they kill themselves.
Indeed, they hide so that they can suddenly attack, but they themselves die.
19 That is what happens to anyone who gains wealth in an unjust manner.
What they gained unjustly will kill them.
20 Imagine that everything that is wise is a woman who calls out to everyone in public.
Imagine that this woman shouts to people in crowded places.
21 Imagine that she calls out to people at the place where busy streets intersect.
Imagine that she speaks her wise words at the crowded entrance of the city gates.
22 She says, “You naive people have loved being naive for too long!
You people who ridicule others have enjoyed ridiculing others to benefit yourselves for too long!
You foolish people have hated what you should know for too long!
23 Turn around and listen to me when I correct you!
Listen! I will tell you all that I am thinking.
Indeed, I will help you to understand what I have to say to you.
24 I called out to you, but you refused to listen.
Indeed, I invited you to come to me,
but no one paid any attention to me.
25 You ignored everything that I advised you to do.
Indeed, you rejected what I said to correct you.
26 Therefore, as for me, I will laugh at you when disastrous things happen to you.
Indeed, I will ridicule you when you are terrified.
27 Yes, when you are terrified as if a violent storm has arrived,
when disastrous things happen to you violently,
and when you become distressed and anguished, I will ridicule you!
28 At that time, those foolish people will cry out to me to help them,
but I will not reply to them.
Indeed, they will desperately look for me,
but they will not be able to find me.
29 Those foolish people will not find me because they refuse to learn.
Also, they have decided not to respect Yahweh.
30 Those foolish people rejected what I advised them to do.
Indeed, they detested everything I said to correct them.
31 Those foolish people will suffer rightly for what they have done.
Indeed, they will suffer fully for what they have planned.
32 Ultimately, naive people will die because they refuse to be wise.
Indeed, being complacent will destroy foolish people.
33 By contrast, people who listen attentively to what I say will live safely.
They will not fear that something evil might happen to them.”
2 My child, accept what I say.
Consider what I command you to be precious.
2 Do this by listening carefully to what is wise,
and by thinking seriously about what you should understand.
3 Yes, cry out to God for him to show you what you should perceive.
Call loudly to God for him to teach you what you should understand!
4 Try to learn what is wise as eagerly as you would try to find silver.
Indeed, look for it as you would look for a treasure that someone has hidden.
5 If you do those things, then you will understand how to reverently fear Yahweh.
If you do those things, then you will be able to know God.
6 This is because Yahweh provides people with what is wise.
He tells them what they should know and understand.
7 He gives what is truly wise to upright people.
He protects people who behave honestly.
8 He does these things in order to guard those people who live justly.
Indeed, he keeps safe those people who are faithful to him.
9 If you listen to me, then you will understand what is righteous, just, and honest—
all the best ways to behave.
10 This is because you will truly know what is wise,
and knowing what is wise will please you.
11 Being able to choose wisely will make you safe.
Indeed, being able to understand what is happening around you will make you secure.
12 Being wise like this will keep you from doing wicked things,
and you will stay away from people who speak perversely.
13 Those people refuse to behave righteously in order to behave wickedly.
14 They gladly do what is wrong.
They enjoy doing things that are perverse and evil.
15 They behave deceptively.
Indeed, they act deviously.
16 Being discreet and insightful will protect you also from adulterous women.
Being discreet and insightful will save you from immoral women who speak to you seductively.
17 Those women left the husbands they married when they were young.
They even forgot what they had promised to God when they married.
18 Being discreet and insightful will rescue you because going to such a woman’s house will cause you to die.
Indeed, going with her is the same as going to the place where the spirits of dead people are.
19 No man who acts adulterously with her will live again.
He will no longer be able to live in a way that results in life with God.
20 Therefore, behave like a good person.
Indeed, conduct yourself like a righteous person.
21 This is important because only people who live uprightly will live in our land,
Indeed, it is the people who do not act wickedly who will stay in this land for a long time.
22 By contrast, Yahweh will remove people who act wickedly from our land.
Be sure of this: Yahweh will completely remove people who act treacherously from this land!
3 My child, remember the rules I have taught you!
Always be mindful to obey what I have commanded you!
2 Do this because obeying what I have commanded you will help you live for a long time with many fulfilling and peaceful years.
3 Always be faithful and trustworthy.
Let everyone see how faithful and trustworthy you are, as if they were a necklace you are wearing.
Remember to be faithful and trustworthy at all times.
4 As a result of doing so, both God and people will approve of you and consider you an insightful person.
5 Trust Yahweh completely,
and do not rely on what you understand.
6 Let Yahweh lead you whenever you do anything.
As a result of doing so, he will show you what you should do.
7 Do not think that you know what is best.
Instead, revere Yahweh and refuse to do what is evil.
8 Doing so will make your body healthy.
Indeed, doing so will strengthen you from the inside.
9 Revere Yahweh by giving to him some of your riches,
and by giving to him some of the first crops from everything that you harvest.
10 Doing so will result in your places for storing crops becoming completely full of crops.
Even your containers for wine will overflow with fresh wine.
11 My child, do not refuse to listen when Yahweh corrects you.
Do not be resentful even when he rebukes you.
12 Do not respond in that way because Yahweh only reproves the people whom he loves,
just as a father reproves the children whom he cherishes.
13 People who become wise are happy.
Indeed, the people who understand Yahweh’s world are the ones who are truly happy.
14 This is because being wise benefits people more than silver could benefit them.
Indeed, being wise is worth more to people than having gold.
15 Being wise is more valuable than precious jewels.
There is nothing that you could desire that is worth as much as being wise.
16 Being wise will help you live for a long time.
Being wise will help you become wealthy and honorable.
17 Being wise will allow you to live pleasantly.
Indeed, in every way being wise will allow you to live peacefully.
18 What is wise is like a tree with fruit that sustains the people who possess it,
People who are consistently wise live happily.
19 Yahweh made the world through being wise.
Through being skillful, he made the sky and everything in it.
20 Through knowing all things, Yahweh made water burst forth from deep below the earth and he made water fall from the clouds above.
21 My child, always remember to do what is prudent and brings a good outcome.
Always be mindful to do those things.
22 Doing so will give you a satisfying life
and people will honor and respect you.
23 Doing what is prudent and good will also cause you to live safely.
They will keep you from making any serious mistakes.
24 When you lie down to sleep, you will not fear anything.
You will lie down to sleep and sleep peacefully.
25 Do not worry about something terrible suddenly happening to you,
or about what will happen when God destroys wicked people.
26 Do not worry because Yahweh will make you confident.
He will not allow people to harm you.
27 Do not refrain from giving what is good to people who deserve it
when you are able to do so.
28 When you are with a friend who needs something, and you have it with you, do not tell that person,
“Go away and come back tomorrow. I will give it to you then.”
29 Do not plan to harm people that you interact with, because they live near you and they trust you.
30 Do not argue needlessly with someone who has not harmed you.
31 Do not envy violent people.
Do not imitate anything they do.
32 Do not do so because Yahweh detests such people who act wickedly,
but he converses like a friend with people who act uprightly.
33 Yahweh causes bad things to happen to the families of wicked people,
but he causes good things to happen to the families of righteous people.
34 When people ridicule others, it is Yahweh who ridicules them,
but he kindly helps those who are humble.
35 People will honor wise people,
but people will shame foolish people.
4 Children, listen carefully to what I, your father, am teaching you.
Pay attention in order to learn what you should understand.
2 Do this because what I am teaching you is good.
So remember the rules that I am teaching you.
3 When I was just a boy with my father,
and my mother’s delicate, only son.
4 During that time, my father taught me. He told me,
“Remember what I have told you!
Do what I have commanded you, so that you will keep on living!
5 Learn what is wise and what you should understand!
Always remember and keep doing the things that I have said to you!
6 Keep doing what is wise, because doing so will keep you safe.
Love doing what is wise, because being wise will protect you from harm.
7 Being wise is the most important thing. So become wise!
Even if it costs you everything that you own, become a person who understands God‘s world!
8 Prize what is wise, so that you will become great.
People will honor you when you value what is wise.
9 Being wise will make you respectable, as though you had an attractive wreath on your head.
Indeed, being wise will make you honorable, as though you were wearing a magnificent crown.”
10 My child, listen attentively and accept what I say.
Doing so will increase the number of years that you live.
11 I instructed you in how to act wisely.
I directed you in how to live in the right way.
12 If you follow my teaching, nothing will hinder you from succeeding.
Indeed, if you attempt great things, you will do well.
13 Consistently remember the things I have instructed you;
keep remembering them!
Always be mindful of them, because they will keep you alive.
14 Do not do what wicked people do.
Indeed, do not behave in the way that evil people behave.
15 Shun doing what is evil. Do not even consider doing it!
Refuse to act wickedly and do something else.
16 Do not act wickedly because it is as if evil people cannot even sleep unless they have done something evil on that day;
it is as if they cannot rest unless they hurt someone.
17 Do not act wickedly because evil people do wicked things as if they were eating food;
they violently hurt others as if they were drinking wine.
18 As for righteous people, they will live wisely and safely as people do who walk in the sunshine;
they will live more and more wisely and safely, just as the sun shines brighter and brighter until the brightest time of day.
19 But the way that wicked people live is dangerous, like people who walk in total darkness.
Like people walking in darkness do not know what they trip over, wicked people do not know what hurts them.
20 My child, pay attention to what I am saying to you!
Listen carefully to what I say!
21 Keep thinking about what I say!
Fully commit yourself to remembering such things!
22 Do this because those who live according to my words will have good lives,
and their whole bodies will be healthy.
23 More than anything else, be extremely careful about what you think and desire,
because those things will control how you live.
24 Do not say anything that deceives people.
Indeed, never say anything that misleads people.
25 Focus on doing what is right, like someone who is always looking straight ahead.
Indeed, act like someone who is looking straight in front of himself.
26 Plan carefully to do things in the right way.
As a result of doing so, you will succeed in everything that you do.
27 Do not do anything other than what is right.
Prevent yourself from doing what is evil.
5 My son, pay attention to the wise things that I tell you!
Listen carefully to what I say you should understand!
2 Do this so that you will be able to choose wisely what to do,
and so that you will know the right things to say.
3 Do this because what adulterous women say seems delightful like the taste of honey.
Yes, their words are more soothing than how olive oil feels on your skin.
4 However, after being with such a woman you will be miserable, as if you had eaten a bitter plant.
You will suffer like a person whom someone has cut with a sharp, double-edged sword.
5 Being with such a woman will cause both of you to die.
Indeed, what she does with you will cause you to become a dead person.
6 She does not want to do what will cause her to live well.
She does not realize that she lives precariously like someone who is walking on a broken path.
7 So now, children, pay attention to what I say!
Always remember what I have spoken to you!
8 Stay far away from any adulterous woman!
Do not even go near the door of the place where such a woman dwells!
9 If you go to such a woman, you will be giving the best efforts of your youth to others,
and a merciless person will take away everything that you would gain in the best time of your life.
10 If you go to such a woman, people you do not know will satisfy themselves with what you produced when you were strong,
and an outsider will fill his house with what you labored to gain.
11 Then you will groan when you are about to die
and have worn out your whole body.
12 Then you will say, “I hated it extremely when people corrected me!
Indeed, I scorned people when they rebuked me!
13 I did not obey the people who taught me.
Indeed, I did not listen carefully to the people who instructed me.
14 My people are close to considering me as someone who has wasted his life.”
15 So be like someone who only drinks water from his own well;
have sex with your wife only.
16 Do not be like someone who lets his water run out into the streets;
never have sex with other women!
17 Only have sex with your own wife!
Do not have sex with other women!
18 As a result, may Yahweh bless your marriage with children;
enjoy sexually the woman whom you married when you were young!
19 She is as beautiful as a loving deer and a graceful mountain goat.
Let her breasts satisfy you always.
Constantly be exhilarated by how she loves you.
20 My son, you should never be exhilarated by an adulterous woman!
You should never passionately caress an immoral woman!
21 Never do that because Yahweh fully knows what people do.
Indeed, he knows everything that people do.
22 The wicked things that wicked people do are like traps that catch them;
the sinful things that they do are like ropes by which others can grab them.
23 Those wicked people will die because they did not discipline themselves.
They will do what kills them because they are extremely foolish.
6 My child, if you guarantee to pay a loan for someone you meet,
that is, if you agree to pay a loan for someone you do not know,
2 if in this way you have said things that you regret
because it would be very difficult for you to fulfill what you promised,
3 then, my child, do this in order to save yourself from having to pay back this loan:
humbly go to that person and beg him to cancel what you have promised, because he now controls you.
4 Do not wait until tomorrow; go immediately!
do not allow yourself to rest until you go and talk to him.
5 Save yourself immediately,
as if you were a deer fleeing from a hunter
or a bird fleeing from a trapper.
6 You lazy person, learn something from watching ants!
Consider what ants do so that you can be wise.
7 Absolutely no one tells ants what to do.
8 Nevertheless, they work hard all during the summer,
gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
9 But you lazy person, stop sleeping!
Wake up!
10 If you say to yourself, “Let me sleep just a little more!
Let me lay my hands across my chest in order to rest comfortably for a little while longer!”
11 Then the result of being so lazy will be that you will become poor and needy
just as surely as if a thief has robbed you.
12 I will describe for you what worthless, sinful people do. They constantly deceive people by what they say.
13 They make gestures, such as winking their eyes, signaling with their feet, and pointing their fingers to communicate their evil plans to their friends.
14 They are always thinking perversely while planning how to do evil things.
They cause people to argue with each other.
15 Because of this, disastrous things will suddenly happen to those people.
Someone will destroy them instantly and they will not be able to recover.
16 Yahweh absolutely hates six, no, seven things:
17 being proud, speaking falsely,
someone murdering a person who has not done anything wrong,
18 someone planning ways to act sinfully,
someone eagerly looking for ways to act wickedly,
19 someone who naturally lies when testifying,
and someone causing members of the same family to argue.
20 My child, be mindful to obey what I, your father, have commanded you.
Indeed, obey the rules that your mother has commanded.
21 Remember what we have taught you as if it were always a part of you.
Indeed, remember these lessons as if you wore them like a necklace.
22 The wise things that we have taught you will help you to know what you should do as you go about each day.
They will cause you to be safe when you sleep.
When you wake up in the morning, they will be what will continue to instruct you.
23 This is so because what I have commanded you is like a lamp that shows you your way.
Indeed, the rules we taught you are like a light to guide you.
When we rebuke you while instructing you, we do that so that you can do what will give you a good life.
24 We taught you these lessons in order to prevent you from going to wicked women,
and to prevent you from believing the seductive talk of immoral women.
25 Do not think lustfully about her beautiful body.
Do not let her seduce you by the flirtatious way she looks at you.
26 Do not do so because, although having sex with a prostitute may only cost you a cheap meal,
doing so with an adulterous married woman will cause you to die.
27 A man cannot hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes!
28 No one can walk on burning coals without blistering his feet!
29 It is similar with anyone who has sex with another man’s wife.
People will certainly punish anyone who does that.
30 People do not resent someone who steals if he only steals food because he is hungry.
31 Nevertheless, if people catch thieves, those thieves must pay back seven times as much as they stole to those from whom they stole.
They may have to give everything that they own in order to repay what they stole.
32 By contrast, a man who acts adulterously with a woman is not thinking.
By doing this, he destroys himself!
33 The woman’s husband will injure him,
people will despise him,
and he will always be ashamed.
34 This is so because the jealous husband will become furious.
He will act mercilessly when he revenges himself on the man who acted adulterously with his wife.
35 That jealous husband will not accept any money to stop being furious,
no matter how much money you offer him.
7 My son, obey what I have told you.
Carefully remember the things that I have commanded you.
2 Do what I have commanded you, so that you will live long and well.
Consider the rules I have taught you to be the most precious things that you possess.
3 Constantly remind yourself of the things that I have commanded you.
Memorize them!
4 Love what is wise as if it were your sister.
Indeed, love what you should understand as if it were a close relative.
5 Do this so that you will be able to stay away from adulterous women,
and stay away from immoral women who speak to you seductively.
6 I was once standing near the window in my house,
and I looked down from above the street through the shutters on the window.
7 Then I observed someone among the naive people.
I noticed among the youths a young man who does not think wisely.
8 He walked down the street near the corner of the road where the adulterous woman dwells.
Then he walked on the path toward her house.
9 (It was the time of day when night begins, and then it became dark.)
10 Then I saw that an adulterous woman approached the young man.
She was wearing a prostitute’s clothing and intended to deceive the young man.
11 (That woman spoke loudly and acted rebelliously.
She never stayed at home.
12 She often walked around the streets and public places.
At the corner of any road she waited for a man whom she could seduce.)
13 When she saw the young man, she firmly took hold of him and kissed him.
She shamelessly told him,
14 “Today I have meat in my house, because I sacrificed an animal in the temple to promise friendship with Yahweh.
In this way I did what I had vowed to do.
15 So I have come out here to meet you.
I have come out to look everywhere for you, and now I have found you!
16 I have covered my bed with expensive Egyptian fabric.
17 I have put pleasant-smelling perfumes on my bed:
myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come with me! Let us satisfy ourselves sexually all night!
Let us enjoy ourselves sexually!
19 Come with me because my husband is not at home.
He has gone away on a long journey.
20 He filled a bag with money and took it with him.
He will not return home until the middle of the month.”
21 Thus that adulterous woman persuaded the young man by speaking many persuasive things;
by speaking seductively she allured him into doing what she wanted him to do.
22 He quickly followed her to her home.
He unknowingly went to die like an ox going to the place where its owner will kill it.
He unknowingly went to die like a foolish person who lets others lead him by a chain to where they will punish him
23 until someone kills him by shooting an arrow into his entrails.
He was as foolish as a bird flying quickly into a trap.
He did not realize that going with the adulterous woman would cause him to die.
24 So now, children, listen to what I say!
Carefully pay attention to what I have spoken to you!
25 Do not desire to be with any adulterous woman.
Indeed, never go with one of them!
26 Do not do so because they have ruined the lives of many men.
It would be difficult to count all of the men that they have caused to die!
27 Going to an adulterous woman’s house is like choosing to become a dead person.
Those who enter her bedroom will die as a result.
8 Imagine that there is a woman who represents everything that is wise. Surely such a woman calls out to everyone.
Indeed, imagine that this woman represents everything that people should understand.
Surely such a woman shouts these things to people.
2 Imagine that this woman stands at the highest place next to the crowded crossroads where everyone can hear her.
3 Imagine that this woman shouts loudly beside the gates at the entrance to a city.
4 Imagine that she proclaims: “I am calling out to all of you!
I am speaking to all people!
5 You naive people must learn to be prudent.
You foolish people must learn how to be discerning.
6 Listen to what I say, because I will tell you some excellent things.
I will speak to you about what is right.
7 Listen to what I say because I speak what is true.
I detest speaking what is evil.
8 Everything that I say is honest.
I do not say anything that is false or that deceives people.
9 Everything that I say is plain for people who understand.
Everything that I say is right to people who have become knowledgeable.
10 Choose to learn what I instruct you instead of silver.
Indeed, choose to learn what you should know instead of the finest gold.
11 Do this because being wise is more valuable than having precious jewels.
Being wise is more valuable than anything that you can desire.
12 I am what is wise. I am a close relative to what is prudent.
I enable people to know how to decide things intelligently.
13 Everyone who reverently fears Yahweh hates what is evil.
I, what is wise, hate it when people are proud or arrogant.
I hate it when people act wickedly and when people speak perversely.
14 I advise people well and enable them to be truly wise.
I am what people need in order to understand how things truly are.
I strengthen people.
15 I enable kings to rule well.
I enable rulers to make righteous laws.
16 I enable princes and nobles to govern well.
I enable every royal official who judges righteously to do so.
17 I am what is wise, and I benefit anyone who loves me.
Anyone who earnestly tries to become wise will succeed.
18 I enable people to become rich and I cause people to honor those people.
I enable people to have riches that will last and I enable people to become righteous.
19 What I can give people is more valuable than even the purest gold and the best silver.
20 I always do what is righteous and just
21 in order to give property to people who love me.
I will fill up the places where they store valuable items.
22 Yahweh had me, what is wise, when he began to create everything.
Indeed, he had me before he started doing that.
23 Yahweh established me a very long time ago—at the very beginning, before the world existed.
24 Yahweh revealed me before the oceans existed
and before there were springs abounding with water.
25 Yahweh revealed me before he made the mountains and before he made the hills.
26 Yahweh revealed me before he made the land or the fields or the first particles of dirt on the earth.
27 I was there when Yahweh made the sky,
and when he made the boundary between the sky and the ocean’s surface.
28 I was there when Yahweh made the clouds above the earth,
and when he made the springs flow at the bottom of the ocean.
29 I was there when Yahweh set boundaries for the seas,
so that the water in the seas would not go past the boundaries that he commanded.
I was there when Yahweh made the parts supporting the dry land.
30 At that time I was like someone who was beside Yahweh, skillfully helping him to create everything.
I made him happy every day.
I was always rejoicing when I was with him.
31 I was rejoicing in the whole world that Yahweh had made.
I was also happy with the people he had made.
32 So now, children, pay attention to what I say!
Do this because anyone who obeys my teachings will be happy.
33 Listen to what I teach you, so that you will become wise.
Think about what I teach you!
34 People who listen to me will be happy.
People who are as eager to listen to me as if they were waiting for me at the door of my house every day
and watching for me to come out will be happy.
35 This is true because people who learn to be wise will live well,
and Yahweh will approve of them.
36 But those who refuse to be wise hurt themselves.
All those who hate to be wise act like they are people who would love to die.”
9 Continue imagining that there is a woman who represents everything that is wise. Imagine that this woman has built her own spacious house
and made seven pillars to support its roof.
2 Imagine that she has prepared a meal for guests.
She has prepared the meat to eat and wine to drink.
She has fully prepared her table for a meal.
3 Imagine that this woman has sent out her maids to invite her dinner guests.
Then she calls out at the highest place in the city where everyone can hear her.
4 She tells those who are not wise,
“Come into my house, all you naive people!
5 Come to me! Eat the food that I have prepared,
and drink the wine that I have prepared.
6 Stop acting naively so that you can live well.
Do what will cause you to learn what you should understand.
7 If you try to teach someone who ridicules other people, that person will ridicule you.
If you correct an evil person, that person will hurt you.
8 So do not correct a person who ridicules other people. If you do so, then that person will hate you.
However, if you correct a wise person, that person will love you for doing so.
9 If you instruct wise people, then they will become even wiser.
If you teach righteous people, then they will learn even more.
10 If you want to be wise, you must start by revering Yahweh,
and only by knowing what is holy will you understand which teachings are wise and true.
11 Surely being wise will cause you to live for many more years.
12 Any wise person benefits himself from being wise,
just as anyone who ridicules other people will personally suffer for doing so.”
13 Foolish women speak loudly,
act naively, and are very ignorant.
14 They sit at the doors of the places where they dwell.
They sit on seats at the highest place in the city where everyone can hear them.
15 They sit there in order to call out to the people who are walking past them.
They call out to those walking down the road, who are only concerned about where they are going.
16 They tell those who are not wise,
“Come into my house, all you naive people!
17 Come to me, because having sex with someone to whom you are not married is as sweet as water that you have stolen.
Indeed, it is as delicious as food that you eat all by yourself.”
18 But men who go to the houses of such women are not aware that the men who have gone there before have died.
They are not aware that the guests of such women are now in the deepest parts of the place where dead people are.
10 These are more wise sayings said by Solomon:
Wise children make their fathers glad,
but foolish children make their mothers sad.
2 Riches that people acquire by acting wickedly will not benefit them,
but people who act righteously prevent themselves from dying too soon.
3 Yahweh prevents righteous people from starving,
but he prevents wicked people from getting what they want.
4 People who are lazy become poor,
but people who work hard become rich.
5 Sons who collect crops at the right time are insightful,
but sons who sleep during the time to harvest crops are shameful.
6 God blesses righteous people,
but what wicked people say sometimes prevents others from knowing about the violent acts that they do.
7 People will be happy when they remember righteous people,
but people will forget wicked people as if they were something that decays and disappears.
8 People who think wisely are willing to obey the good things that people tell them to do,
but people who speak foolishly destroy themselves.
9 People who behave honestly will live safely;
but God will catch people who behave deceitfully.
10 People who gesture with their eyes to deceive others hurt people,
and people who speak foolishly destroy themselves.
11 What righteous people say is like a spring that enables people to live long and well;
but what wicked people say prevents others from knowing about the violent acts that they do.
12 When people hate others, they argue with each other;
but when people love others, they forgive people for the wrong things that they do.
13 Discerning people say what is wise,
but someone must punish people who do not think wisely.
14 Wise people continue to learn all that they can,
but when foolish people speak, they start to destroy things.
15 What rich people own keeps them safe like a strong wall keeps a city safe,
but poor people suffer much because they are poor.
16 God rewards righteous people by allowing them to live for a long time,
but God recompenses wicked people by punishing them for sinning.
17 People who heed what is instructive will live for a long time;
but people who do not let others correct them do what will destroy them.
18 People who hate others but pretend that they do not hate them speak falsely.
People who slander others are foolish.
19 People who talk a lot sin a lot;
but people who refrain from speaking unnecessarily are wise.
20 What righteous people say is as valuable as the best silver;
but what wicked people think is worthless.
21 What righteous people say benefits many people,
but foolish people die because they do not think wisely.
22 When people become wealthy, it is because Yahweh has blessed them,
and working harder will not make them to become wealthier.
23 Foolish people enjoy doing the wicked things that they planned to do,
but sensible people enjoy doing what is wise.
24 Wicked people will experience what frightens them;
but righteous people will receive what they want.
25 When something disastrous happens, it destroys wicked people,
but righteous people are like a foundation that lasts forever.
26 Lazy people irritate people who send them to do something for them,
like vinegar irritates teeth and smoke irritates eyes.
27 People who revere Yahweh will live for a long time,
but wicked people will live for only a short time.
28 What righteous people hope for will make them joyful,
but what wicked people hope for will not happen.
29 Yahweh protects honest people like a fortress because they live the way that he directs people to live,
but not living that way destroys people who act sinfully.
30 Righteous people will always be secure,
but wicked people will never live in our land.
31 Righteous people say what is wise,
but Yahweh will stop people from speaking who speak perversely.
32 Righteous people know good things to say,
but wicked people continually say things that are not true.
11 Yahweh detests people using weighing instruments in order to deceive others,
but it pleases him when people use correct weights on their weighing instruments.
2 When people act proudly, they will soon disgrace themselves,
but humble people are wise.
3 Upright people know what to do because they are honest,
but being deceitful will ruin treacherous people.
4 What people own will not help them when Yahweh punishes wicked people,
but he will not kill those who live righteously.
5 Being righteous will cause innocent people to live securely,
but being wicked will ruin those who act wickedly.
6 Being righteous will cause people who act uprightly to escape harm,
but desiring bad things will cause people who act treacherously to trap themselves.
7 When wicked people die, what they hoped for never happens;
they hoped that being strong would benefit them, but it will not.
8 Yahweh rescues righteous people from becoming distressed;
but wicked people will become distressed instead.
9 People who reject God ruin other people by what they say,
but what righteous people know will cause them to escape.
10 People in a city rejoice when the righteous people there prosper,
and they shout joyously when wicked people die.
11 A city becomes great when people who act uprightly bless the people there,
but what people who act wickedly say destroys that city.
12 People who openly detest someone they know are not thinking wisely;
but understanding people say nothing.
13 People who go around gossiping tell others what is secret,
but trustworthy people will keep a matter private.
14 Not having anyone to guide a group of people will ruin them,
but having many people to advise them will keep that group secure.
15 People who guarantee to pay a debt for someone they do not know will surely suffer,
but people who avoid agreeing to do such a thing will be safe.
16 People honor a gracious woman,
but cruel men only get wealth.
17 People who are faithfully kind greatly benefit themselves,
but cruel people hurt themselves.
18 People who act wickedly falsely believe that they have gained something good,
but God truly rewards people who do what is right.
19 People who truly act righteously will live well,
but people who eagerly do what is evil will die.
20 Yahweh detests people who think deceitfully,
but people who act blamelessly please him.
21 It is certain that Yahweh will punish wicked people,
and that he will not punish those who belong to the righteous group.
22 It is as unsuitable for a beautiful woman to refuse to act discreetly
as it is for a pig to have a gold ring in its snout.
23 When righteous people get what they want, it results in only good things,
but when wicked people get what they hope for, it results in Yahweh being angry.
24 Some people generously share what they have with others but they receive even more.
Other people keep more of what they have than they should keep, but they still become poor.
25 People who generously bless others will prosper;
and people who generously give others what the others need will also receive everything that they need.
26 People curse anyone who selfishly hoards grain instead of selling it,
but they bless people who sell it when others need it.
27 If you sincerely want to do what is right, people will treat you well,
but evil things happen to people who try to do what is evil.
28 People who depend on their money will not be successful,
but righteous people will thrive like a green plant.
29 People who trouble their families will not inherit anything,
and people who act foolishly will serve people who think wisely.
30 What righteous people say and do is like a tree with fruit that keeps people alive,
and people who persuade others to be righteous are wise.
31 Pay attention! Righteous people on the earth will get what they deserve;
but even more so, wicked, sinful people will also get what they deserve!
12 People who love other people correcting them also love learning what they should know.
But people who hate other people correcting them are foolish.
2 Yahweh approves of people who are good,
but he condemns people who plan to do what is evil.
3 People do not become secure by acting wickedly,
but righteous people are as secure as a tree with immovable roots.
4 A virtuous wife causes people to praise her husband,
but a disgraceful wife destroys her husband like a disease that destroys his bones.
5 Righteous people plan to treat people fairly;
wicked people advise people in order to deceive them.
6 What wicked people say is like a trap that kills people who pass by;
but what upright people say will enable them to escape.
7 Yahweh destroys wicked people and they disappear,
but the families of righteous people will continue.
8 People will praise someone according to how insightful that person is,
but people will despise someone who thinks perversely.
9 It is better to be a lowly person yet have a servant
than to think that you are important yet have no food.
10 Righteous people care for their animals,
but even when wicked people think that they act compassionately, they act cruelly.
11 People who work hard will have enough food to eat,
but people who waste time doing worthless things do not think wisely.
12 Wicked people want what evil people steal,
but righteous people benefit others like a tree with deep roots.
13 The sinful things that wicked people say will destroy them,
but righteous people escape from trouble.
14 The good things that people say to others will also satisfy them with what is good;
what people work hard to accomplish will also benefit them.
15 Foolish people always think that what they are doing is right;
but wise people listen to what other people advise them to do.
16 People know immediately when foolish people are angry;
but smart people ignore it when someone disrespects them.
17 People who naturally say what is true speak righteously,
but witnesses who say what is false speak deceitfully.
18 When people speak without thinking about what to say, they hurt others like someone who stabs people with a sword,
but what wise people say helps people heal.
19 What people say truthfully will last forever,
but what people say falsely will only last for a moment.
20 People who plan to act evilly think deceitfully,
but people who advise others to act peacefully will be joyful.
21 Bad things usually do not happen to righteous people,
but wicked people will experience many bad things.
22 Yahweh detests people who speak falsely,
but people who act faithfully please him.
23 Smart people do not reveal all of what they know,
but foolish people shout out foolish things.
24 People who work hard will reign over others,
but lazy people will become forced laborers.
25 When people worry, they feel sad,
but when others speak kindly to them, it causes them to be cheerful again.
26 Righteous people guide their friends in the right way to live,
but by living wickedly, wicked people destroy themselves.
27 Lazy people do not even cook the animals that they catch,
but people who work hard value their possessions.
28 People who do what is righteous will live.
Indeed, people who do so will not die.
13 Wise children pay attention when their fathers instruct them,
but people who ridicule other people do not pay attention when people correct them.
2 The good things that people say are like good food to them,
and the violent things that treacherous people do are like food for them.
3 People who are careful about what they say enable themselves to stay alive,
but people who speak carelessly destroy themselves.
4 Lazy people want things very much and get very little,
but people who work hard will receive everything that they want.
5 Righteous people detest speaking falsely,
but what wicked people do is disgusting and disgraceful.
6 Acting righteously enables people who act blamelessly to be safe,
but acting wickedly causes sinful people to do what will destroy them.
7 Some people act as if they are wealthy while they are actually poor.
Other people act as if they are poor while they are actually wealthy.
8 Rich people might have to pay money to someone who threatens them in order to stay alive,
but poor people do not even listen when someone threatens them.
9 Righteous people live joyfully like a light that shines brightly,
but wicked people will merely die like an oil lamp that stops burning oil.
10 People who act proudly cause people to argue,
but people who let others advise them cause people to be wise.
11 Riches that people gain effortlessly will disappear,
but people who gain riches by working steadily will increase their riches.
12 People despair when they do not receive what they have been hoping to receive,
but when people receive what they have been wanting to receive, they feel like they have everything that they need.
13 People who detest what others try to teach them will suffer for doing so,
but God will reward those people who respect what he has commanded.
14 What wise people teach continuously benefits people throughout their lives.
It enables people to avoid dangerous things that could kill them.
15 People approve of people who are very insightful,
but treacherous people are stubborn in the way that they live.
16 All clever people think carefully before they do something,
but foolish people show that they are foolish by how they act.
17 Bad things happen to messengers who are not reliable,
but reliable messengers make people peaceful.
18 People who do not let other people correct them will become poor and ashamed,
but people respect those who let other people rebuke them for any bad behavior.
19 People feel pleasant when they get what they want,
but foolish people detest refusing to do what is evil.
20 People who associate with wise people will become wise themselves,
but people who are companions of foolish people will suffer.
21 Bad things happen to sinful people,
but good things happen to righteous people.
22 Good people will leave riches for their grandchildren when they die,
but righteous people will receive the riches that sinful people have saved.
23 Poor people have fields that can produce a lot of food,
but unjust people take it away from them.
24 Parents who do not punish their children for bad behavior act as if they hate their children,
but parents who truly love their children are careful to discipline them.
25 Righteous people have enough food to eat and satisfy themselves,
but wicked people will be hungry.
14 The wisest women help their families to thrive,
but foolish women ruin their families by the foolish things that they do.
2 People who behave uprightly show that they greatly revere Yahweh,
but people who behave deceptively show that they detest Yahweh.
3 What foolish people say causes others to punish them for being proud,
but what wise people say protects them.
4 If a man has no oxen to plow his field, he does not need to put grain in their feedbox,
but if he has oxen, they will enable him to produce an abundant crop.
5 Honest witnesses do not lie,
but dishonest witnesses lie easily.
6 People who ridicule other people try to become wise and fail to do so,
but people who understand what is right learn things easily.
7 If you associate with foolish people,
you will not learn anything from knowledgeable people.
8 People who have good sense know that it is wise to understand the consequences of what they do,
but stupid people deceive themselves and others, which is foolish.
9 Foolish people scorn people who make amends with Yahweh after sinning,
but Yahweh approves of people who do what is right.
10 Only you truly know how miserable you are,
and only you truly know how joyful you are.
11 The families of wicked people will die out,
but the families of upright people will thrive.
12 There is a way to do things that is easy and convenient for people,
but in the end, doing things that way will cause them to die.
13 People who are laughing may still be suffering,
and people who feel joyful may ultimately feel sad.
14 People who refuse to live righteously will receive from Yahweh what they deserve from living that way;
and good people will also receive from Yahweh what they deserve from living the good way.
15 Naive people believe whatever people say,
but smart people think carefully about what they do.
16 Wise people are careful and avoid doing things that annoy others,
but foolish people confidently interfere in other people’s business.
17 People who quickly become angry act foolishly,
and people hate those who plan to do evil things.
18 Naive people only acquire foolish habits,
but the reward for clever people is what they know.
19 Some day evil people will respectfully bow in front of good people,
and wicked people will bow at the doors of the houses where righteous people dwell.
20 Even the friends of poor people despise them,
but rich people have many friends.
21 It is sinful to despise your poor neighbors,
but God is pleased with those who do kind things for poor people.
22 People who plan to act wickedly are surely doing the wrong thing with their lives,
but people who plan to do what is good are faithful and trustworthy people.
23 If people work hard, they will gain from it,
but if people only talk, they will remain poor.
24 A reward of being wise is to become rich,
but because stupid people are foolish, they only become more foolish.
25 Truthful witnesses save people from dying,
but deceptive people tell lies that cause harm to people.
26 People who revere Yahweh are completely confident that he will protect them.
Yahweh will also protect their children.
27 Reverently fearing Yahweh is like having a refreshing spring that enables people to live well.
It enables people to avoid what could kill them.
28 Kings who rule over many people are glorious,
but kings who have no people to rule over have nothing.
29 People who do not become angry quickly are very wise,
but people who become angry quickly show everyone how foolish they are.
30 Feeling peaceful makes a person’s body healthy,
but envying others makes a person’s body unhealthy, like something that rots a person’s bones.
31 People who make poor people suffer ridicule Yahweh, who made them,
but people who are kind to needy people respect Yahweh.
32 Wicked people destroy themselves by doing evil things,
but righteous people are safe even when they die.
33 Understanding people think wisely,
but when one is among foolish people what is wise is especially obvious.
34 Acting righteously makes a country great,
but acting sinfully disgraces communities.
35 Insightful servants please their kings,
but kings are furious with servants who act disgracefully.
15 Replying gently to angry people will calm them,
but speaking harshly to them will make them angrier.
2 What wise people say makes others want to know more,
but foolish people constantly say what is foolish.
3 Yahweh sees everything that is happening;
he observes both evil people and good people.
4 What people say soothingly is like a tree with fruit that enables people to live well,
but what people say deceitfully makes people despair.
5 Foolish people detest what their fathers say to correct them,
but people who let others rebuke them are clever.
6 Righteous people have houses that contain a lot of riches,
but what wicked people gain disrupts them.
7 What wise people say informs others of what they should know,
but what foolish people think does not do that.
8 Yahweh detests the sacrifices that wicked people offer to him,
but he delights in the prayers of upright people.
9 Yahweh detests what wicked people do,
but he loves people who diligently try to do what is right.
10 Yahweh will severely punish people who refuse to live righteously,
and people who refuse to let other people correct them will perish.
11 Yahweh knows everything about the place where dead people are,
so he surely knows everything that everyone thinks!
12 People who ridicule others despise anyone who corrects them;
they avoid wise people.
13 People smile when they are happy,
but feeling sad can make people despair.
14 Sensible people are always trying to learn more,
but foolish people satisfy themselves with what is foolish.
15 People who suffer experience bad things every day,
but cheerful people live as though they are always feasting.
16 Being poor while reverently fearing Yahweh
is better than being rich while worrying.
17 It is better for someone to have a small meal of vegetables with people who love each other
than to have a large meal of good meat with people who hate each other.
18 People who easily become angry cause people to argue,
but people who do not easily become angry will help people to be peaceful.
19 Lazy people are unproductive like people walking through thorny plants,
but upright people are productive like people walking on a level road.
20 Wise sons and daughters make their parents happy,
but any sons or daughters who detest their parents are foolish.
21 People who are not wise enjoy acting foolishly,
but understanding people do what is right.
22 People will not accomplish what they plan to do if there is no one to advise them well,
but when many people advise them well, they will succeed.
23 People rejoice when they answer someone aptly.
It is so good to say something at the right time!
24 Insightful people live in a way that causes their lives to become increasingly better,
in order for them to avoid living in a way that would result in dying.
25 Yahweh will destroy what proud people own,
but he protects the few things that widows own.
26 Yahweh detests the evil things that people think,
but the pleasing things that people say are pure.
27 People who gain wealth in an unjust manner trouble their families,
but people who refuse bribes will live in a better way.
28 Righteous people think carefully about how to reply to people,
but wicked people quickly say what is evil.
29 Yahweh does not listen to what wicked people request him to do,
but he listens and responds when righteous people pray to him.
30 People feel happy when they see someone smile,
and people feel healthy when they hear something good.
31 People who begin to behave in a more life-giving way when others rebuke them for behaving badly show that they belong to the group of wise people.
32 People who refuse to let others correct them act as if they despise themselves,
but people who listen when others rebuke them think wisely.
33 Revering Yahweh teaches people to be wise,
and people must be humble before other people can respect them.
16 People plan what they want to say,
but Yahweh determines how they will actually speak.
2 People think that everything that they do is right,
but Yahweh knows why people do what they do.
3 Entrust what you do to Yahweh,
and he will make what you plan to do succeed.
4 When Yahweh made everything, he planned what would happen to each thing.
He has even made wicked people for the time when he will punish them.
5 Yahweh detests all proud people;
he will certainly punish them.
6 Be loyal to Yahweh and faithfully obey him; if you do that, he will forgive you for having sinned.
People who revere Yahweh will avoid doing what is evil.
7 When Yahweh approves of what people do,
he even causes their enemies to be peaceful with them.
8 It is better for someone to have just a few things while being righteous,
than for someone to have a lot of crops while being unjust.
9 People plan what they want to do,
but Yahweh determines what they will actually do.
10 Kings speak for God;
when kings judge, they must always speak justly.
11 Yahweh made accurate weighing instruments for us to use honestly.
Indeed, he made all the stones in the weighing bag so that we would use them honestly.
12 Kings should detest any wicked thing that people do
because acting righteously causes kings to rule securely.
13 Ideally, kings enjoy hearing people speak honestly.
Indeed, they love people who say what is true.
14 When kings are angry, they cause people to die,
so wise people will appease them.
15 When kings are happy, they let people live;
when they approve of people, it is as refreshing as rain in springtime.
16 Becoming wise is better than having gold.
Indeed, it is better to choose to become understanding than to have silver.
17 Upright people act in a way that avoids doing what is evil;
people who want to stay alive are careful about what they do.
18 Being proud causes people to destroy themselves.
Indeed, being arrogant causes people to ruin themselves.
19 It is better to live humbly among poor people
than to live proudly and receive some of what proud people have taken from others.
20 People who act prudently in a matter will succeed,
and people who trust in Yahweh are happy.
21 People will call those who think wisely, “understanding ones,”
and people who speak pleasantly are able to teach others effectively.
22 Being insightful allows a person to live well continually,
but foolish people can only teach others to be foolish.
23 What wise people think causes them to speak insightfully,
and what those people say causes others to learn.
24 The pleasing things that people say are like a honeycomb:
They cause people to feel pleasant and healthy.
25 There is a way to do things that is easy and convenient for people,
but in the end, doing things that way will cause them to die.
26 Being hungry helps working people work
because wanting to eat motivates people to keep on working.
27 Worthless people plot how to hurt others;
the evil things they say harm others like fire burns people.
28 Perverse people cause other people to argue with each other,
and people who gossip about others cause friends to stop being friends.
29 Violent people tempt other people to sin,
and they guide them to behave wickedly.
30 People who use their eyes to signal to others are planning to do something perverse;
people who use their lips to signal to others are about to do the evil thing that they had planned to do.
31 The gray hair that old people have is like an honorable crown on their heads;
they achieve it by living righteously.
32 It is better to be someone who does not become angry quickly than to be powerful.
It is better to control oneself than to be as powerful as someone who conquers a city.
33 People throw lots in order to decide what to do,
but Yahweh decides whatever happens.
17 It is better for someone to have a little stale food to eat while living peacefully
than for someone to live in a house where people frequently eat large meals while arguing with each other.
2 An insightful slave will become the boss of a disgraceful son of his master,
and that slave will inherit a portion of his master’s property along with his master’s sons.
3 People put silver and gold into very hot furnaces to burn out what is impure,
and Yahweh tests what people are thinking and desiring to do in a similar manner.
4 People who act wickedly listen carefully when people speak what is sinful;
people who lie pay attention when people say things that destroy others.
5 People who ridicule poor people despise Yahweh, who made them;
Yahweh will certainly punish people who rejoice when other people experience disastrous things.
6 Old people are proud of their grandchildren,
and children are proud of their parents.
7 It is not fitting for worthless people to speak eloquently.
It is even less fitting for royal officials to speak falsely!
8 People who pay bribes think that bribes are magical;
by paying bribes, they think that everything that they do will be successful.
9 If you want people to love you, forgive them for the wrong things that they have done to you.
If you continue to remind them about those wrong things, they will no longer be your friends.
10 Rebuking sensible people once causes them to learn
more than hitting foolish people a hundred times causes them to learn.
11 Evil people only want to rebel,
so a merciless messenger will come and punish them.
12 A mother bear who is furious because someone has stolen her cubs is dangerous,
but it can be more dangerous to confront a foolish person who is doing something foolish.
13 If someone does bad things to people who have done good things to him,
then bad things will always happen to his family.
14 When people start arguing with each other, it is as difficult to stop as it is to stop water that is leaking out of a dam,
so prevent yourself from arguing before you start to argue.
15 There are people who acquit guilty people,
and there are people who condemn innocent people;
Yahweh detests both types of people.
16 How useless it is for foolish people to try to pay money in order to become wise
when they are unable to think!
17 A friend loves you all the time,
and relatives exist in order to help other relatives when disastrous things happen.
18 People who do not think wisely agree to pay someone else’s loan
and even guarantee to pay that loan in front of people whom they know.
19 People who love to sin also love to cause people to argue;
people who brag a lot cause others to destroy them.
20 People who think deceitfully will not experience good things,
and bad things will happen to people who speak deceitfully.
21 Foolish people grieve their parents.
Indeed, worthless people will cause their parents to be very sad.
22 Being cheerful helps the body to heal,
but being discouraged makes the body weak.
23 Wicked people accept bribes that people give to them secretly,
so that they will decide matters unfairly.
24 Understanding people concentrate on what is wise,
but foolish people cannot concentrate on anything.
25 Foolish children grieve their fathers
and make their mothers miserable.
26 Punishing innocent people is surely very bad,
and flogging noble people would be just as wrong.
27 People who refrain from speaking unnecessarily are knowledgeable,
and people who can remain calm are truly wise.
28 People will think even foolish people are wise if those foolish people do not speak.
Indeed, if fools refrain from speaking people will consider them to be insightful.
18 People who avoid other people only care about doing what they want to do.
They refuse to do anything that is wise.
2 Foolish people hate learning.
Instead, they only want to tell others what they think.
3 People treat wicked people contemptuously,
and people scold people who act shamefully.
4 What wise people say is as profound as a deep ocean.
Wise people are always saying wise things, like a fountain that flows in a constant stream.
5 It is very evil for judges to favor guilty people
in order to prevent judging innocent people justly.
6 What foolish people say makes people argue,
and it makes people want to beat them.
7 What foolish people say will ruin them.
Indeed, what they say may cause them to die, as a trap may cause an animal to die.
8 People are eager to listen to what people who gossip say,
and what they say deeply affects those who hear it.
9 People who are lazy when they work
are like people who destroy things.
10 Yahweh is like a strong tower
that righteous people run into and are safe.
11 Rich people think that what they own keeps them safe like walls keep cities safe;
they think that what they own protects them as well as a high wall.
12 Before people ruin themselves, they have first become proud;
and before people will respect someone, that person must become humble.
13 It is foolish and shameful
for someone to reply to what a person has said before hearing it.
14 When someone is inwardly strong, he can endure being sick.
However, when someone is inwardly weak and depressed, it is very difficult to make the person feel better!
15 Understanding people are always learning more.
Indeed, wise people are always trying to learn more.
16 Giving something to someone can benefit the one who gives it;
doing so can enable that person to meet important people.
17 People who state their cases first seem to be right
until people whom they know arrive and question them.
18 Throwing lots in order to decide something can make people stop arguing,
it can also decide who is right between powerful people.
19 It is more difficult to reconcile with a relative whom you have offended than to conquer a fortified city;
and when people argue, they avoid each other as if a castle’s strong gate were between them.
20 What people say will satisfy them when they are hungry.
Indeed, what people say will satisfy them.
21 What people say can cause people to die or to remain alive.
So people who are skillful at talking will strongly influence what happens to themselves and to others.
22 A man who marries a good wife will experience good things,
and Yahweh approves of them.
23 Poor people plead for others to be merciful to them, but rich people reply to them rudely.
24 Having companions who only seem to be true friends will destroy a person,
but there is a type of friend who loves us and is more loyal than any brother.
19 It is better to be poor and behave honestly
than to speak deceitfully and be foolish.
2 Furthermore, it is very bad for people to be enthusiastic about doing something while not knowing anything about it;
people who act hastily do things wrong.
3 People who act foolishly destroy themselves,
yet they become furious with Yahweh and blame him.
4 Wealthy people easily make many friends,
but when people become poor, they lose even the friends they have.
5 Someone will surely punish lying witnesses.
Indeed, someone will surely punish people who lie easily.
6 A lot of people want royal officials to favor them,
and many people want to be friends with people who give gifts.
7 All the relatives of poor people despise them,
and even their friends avoid them!
Although they call out to them for help, they do not respond.
8 People who love to learn benefit themselves;
people who are consistently sensible will surely succeed.
9 Someone will surely punish lying witnesses.
Indeed, people who lie easily will die.
10 It is wrong for foolish people to live luxuriously,
and it is even worse for slaves to reign over princes!
11 Insightful people do not get angry quickly,
and people show how honorable they are by forgiving people who sin against them.
12 When kings are furious, they frighten people like the roaring of young lions frightens people,
but when they approve of people, it is as refreshing for the people as dew is on plants.
13 Foolish children destroy their fathers,
and when wives argue with their husbands, it is as annoying as constantly dripping water.
14 People inherit houses and riches from their fathers,
but Yahweh alone gives men insightful wives.
15 Lazy people sleep well,
but such idle people are always hungry.
16 People who obey God’s commandments stay alive,
but people who do not care about God’s ways will die.
17 Giving things to poor people is like loaning them to Yahweh;
he will reward anyone who does this.
18 Discipline your children while they are young and you can expect them to learn to live in the right way.
If you do not discipline them, it is as though you want them to die.
19 Very angry people will pay for being angry;
so if you rescue them once from what they must pay, you will have to do that again and again.
20 Pay attention to what people advise you to do and let people teach you.
If you do so, you will become wise for the rest of your life.
21 People plan to do many things,
but only what Yahweh advises will succeed.
22 People want others to consider them to be faithful.
It is better to be poor than to be someone who lies.
23 Revering Yahweh causes people to live for a long time;
such people rest contentedly at night;
nothing will harm them.
24 Some people are so lazy that even though they have put their hands in a dish of food,
they will not even lift the food to their mouths.
25 If you punish people who ridicule others,
then naive people who see you do that will learn to be sensible.
If you correct understanding people,
then they will know even more.
26 Children who act violently toward their fathers and chase away their mothers
are disgraceful and embarrassing.
27 My child, if you want to become stupid,
then stop listening to what people teach you.
28 Worthless witnesses scorn what is just,
and wicked people enjoy acting sinfully as if they were gulping down delicious food.
29 Yahweh is ready to condemn people who ridicule others,
and he is ready to beat fools on their backs.
20 Drinking a lot of intoxicating drink causes people to start ridiculing and fighting others;
becoming drunk is very foolish.
2 When kings are terrifyingly angry, they frighten people like the roaring of young lions frightens people;
people who make kings angry cause themselves to die.
3 It is honorable to cease arguing with other people,
but all foolish people are eager to argue with others.
4 Lazy farmers do not plow their fields when they should plow their fields.
Then when it is time to harvest crops, they look for crops in their fields, but there are none.
5 Knowing what people are thinking and planning is as difficult as drawing water out of a deep well,
but discerning people are able to do so.
6 Many people claim that they are faithful individuals,
but very few people actually act faithfully!
7 Righteous people live honestly;
their children are very fortunate.
8 Ideally, kings who sit on their thrones in order to judge people
discern anything that is evil and remove it from their lands.
9 No one can truthfully say, “I do not think sinfully anymore; I do not sin anymore.”
10 Yahweh detests people dishonestly using both weights that differ and measurements that differ to benefit themselves.
11 Even young people show others who they are by what they do;
how they act shows whether they are innocent and right or not.
12 Yahweh has made both ears with which to hear and eyes with which to see.
13 If you sleep a lot, you will become poor;
but if you stay awake and work, you will have plenty of food.
14 Buyers claim that something is not good at all when they are bargaining with the seller about its price.
But after they buy it, they go and boast to their friends about the good thing that they bought.
15 Gold and precious jewels are plentiful,
but the knowledgeable things that people say are rare and precious.
16 Take the coats of people who promise to pay a loan for someone whom they do not know.
Indeed, hold onto the coats of people who do so for a foreigner because those people are not likely to repay those loans.
17 Food that people get by deceiving others may taste sweet to them at first,
but later what they have done will be as unpleasant to them as having a mouth full of rocks.
18 When people give you good advice, if you do what they suggest, your plans will succeed.
Therefore, let others advise you before you start fighting a war.
19 People who walk around gossiping tell others what is secret,
so avoid people who speak carelessly.
20 People who curse their parents
will die like an oil lamp that stops burning oil in a totally dark place.
21 If people inherit property hastily before the proper time,
they will ultimately not receive any blessing from it.
22 Do not say that you will harm someone who has harmed you.
Rather, wait for Yahweh to resolve the matter, so that he may vindicate you.
23 Yahweh detests people dishonestly using differing weights to benefit themselves.
Indeed, using weighing instruments in order to deceive others is very bad.
24 Yahweh directs what happens even to powerful people.
So then, no one can comprehend what will happen to him!
25 It is dangerous for people to declare thoughtlessly that they will dedicate something to Yahweh,
and then later regret that they have promised to do that.
26 Wise kings separate the wicked people from the good people
and then punish the wicked people severely.
27 Just as the light of a lamp penetrates into and illuminates a dark place, the life-breath that Yahweh puts into each person penetrates into the person’s inner being.
That breath is like the presence of Yahweh, who sees everything that is inside a person.
28 Being faithful and trustworthy makes kings safe.
Indeed, being faithful enables them to rule securely.
29 People admire young men because they are strong,
but people admire old men because they have become wise.
30 Flogging people for doing evil things can stop them from doing those evil things,
and hitting those people on the outside can change who they are on the inside.
21 Yahweh directs what kings think as a farmer directs streams of water
to make them go wherever he wants them to go.
2 People always think that what they do is right,
but Yahweh rightly evaluates why they do those things.
3 Doing what is right and fair is more acceptable to Yahweh
than sacrificing animals to him.
4 Being proud and arrogant guide what wicked people do like a lamp shows people where to go;
they are sinful.
5 What diligent people plan will certainly profit them,
but all those who act too hastily will certainly become poor.
6 When people gain wealth by speaking falsely,
that wealth quickly vanishes like mist, and doing that will kill them.
7 When wicked people act violently, they cause others to punish them for it
because they refuse to do what is right.
8 Guilty people continually do what is wrong,
but innocent people do what is right.
9 It is better to live alone in a corner of a housetop
than to live inside a house with a wife who always argues with you.
10 Wicked people strongly desire to do what is evil,
they will not be merciful to the people around them.
11 If you punish people who ridicule others, then naive people who see you do that will become wise,
and if you teach wise people, they will become even more knowledgeable.
12 Righteous people are able to understand what the households of wicked people do;
they let the evil things that wicked people do happen to them.
13 People who refuse to listen to poor people when they cry out for help
will also cry out for help themselves, but no one will help them.
14 Secretly giving something to an angry person will stop him from being angry.
Indeed, secretly bribing a furious person will calm him down.
15 Righteous people are glad when people judge justly,
but judging justly terrifies people who act sinfully.
16 People who stop behaving sensibly
will soon go to the place where the spirits of dead people are.
17 People who love what is pleasurable will be poor.
Indeed, people who indulge themselves in wine and rich food will never be wealthy.
18 Wicked people will suffer instead of righteous people,
and treacherous people will suffer in place of upright people.
19 It is better to live alone in a desolate land
than to live with an argumentative and nagging wife.
20 Wise people store up precious riches and olive oil,
but foolish people waste everything that they have.
21 People who diligently try to be righteous and faithful
will live well, will be righteous, and people will respect them.
22 Wise people know how to conquer cities that mighty warriors are defending;
they can pull down the walls that people in those cities believe will protect them.
23 People who are careful about what they say
avoid becoming distressed.
24 People who ridicule others are proud and arrogant;
they behave furiously and presumptuously.
25 Lazy people want food, but they will die
because they refuse to work.
26 Lazy people always want more things for themselves,
but righteous people generously give what they have to others.
27 Yahweh detests the sacrifices that wicked people offer to him;
it is even more detestable when they are offering something to Yahweh while intending to act wickedly!
28 Witnesses who lie will die,
but when someone who listens carefully speaks, what he says will finish the matter.
29 Wicked people pretend to know what they are doing,
but upright people think about what they do.
30 Even the wisest and most knowledgeable counselor is nothing compared to Yahweh.
31 Soldiers prepare to fight,
but Yahweh determines who wins that fight.
22 Being someone whom people respect is more important than being very wealthy.
Indeed, being someone whom others approve of is better than having silver and gold.
2 Rich people and poor people have this in common:
Yahweh made all of them.
3 Sensible people observe something dangerous happening and avoid it,
but naive people just keep going and suffer for doing so.
4 People who are humble, who revere Yahweh,
will become rich, people will respect them, and they will live long and well.
5 Deceptive people live dangerously, as if they were walking down a road covered with thorns and traps,
but people who want to stay alive avoid living that way.
6 Teach children how to behave properly,
so that when they become old, they will still continue to do so.
7 Rich people reign over poor people,
and people who borrow money from others become like slaves to the people who loaned them money.
8 People who act unjustly will suffer for doing so,
and they will no longer be able to furiously oppress other people.
9 Yahweh will bless generous people
because they give some of their own food to poor people.
10 If you banish people who ridicule others, then people will stop arguing with each other,
condemning each other, and shaming each other.
11 People who love being sincere and
speaking graciously are companions of kings.
12 Yahweh preserves true sayings,
but he makes what treacherous people say fail.
13 Lazy people as an excuse to not work claim that there is a lion outside that will kill them in the street if they go outside.
14 What adulterous women say is as dangerous as a deep hole that men could fall into;
those with whom Yahweh is angry will suffer from it.
15 Children naturally think foolishly,
but physically disciplining them will teach them to stop being foolish.
16 People who oppress poor people in order to make more money for themselves
or who give things to rich people in order to become rich will only become poor.
17 Listen carefully to what wise people have said;
consider carefully what I am teaching you!
18 Do this because if you remember these sayings
and if you are always ready to repeat them to others,
then you will be glad.
19 I am teaching these sayings to you—yes, you—right now
so that you will trust Yahweh.
20 I am indeed writing these 30 sayings
to advise and teach you.
21 I am writing them in order to teach you what is true in trustworthy sayings,
and in order to answer those who sent you with trustworthy sayings.
22 Do not steal from poor people just because they are poor;
and do not oppress suffering people in court.
23 Do not do these things because Yahweh will defend those poor people when you dispute with them,
and he will kill the people who stole from them.
24 Do not become friends with angry people.
Indeed, do not associate with people who easily become angry.
25 If you do so, then you will act like them,
and you will endanger yourself like an animal caught in a trap.
26 Stay away from those people who agree to pay loans for others.
Indeed, stay away from those people who guarantee to pay the loans of others.
27 Because if you cannot pay back the loan,
then the person to whom you owe money will surely take away even your own bed in order to pay back the loan.
28 Do not cheat people by moving the stones that their ancestors placed long ago
to mark the boundaries of their land.
29 Consider this: People who work skillfully will serve kings
rather than serving unknown people.
23 When you sit down to eat a meal with someone who rules over others,
pay attention to the food that is in front of you.
2 Restrain yourself from eating too much
if you like eating a lot of food.
3 Do not crave the expensive food that the ruler has
because that ruler is using that food to deceive you.
4 Do not work so much that you exhaust yourself in order to become rich.
Be understanding enough to stop doing so.
5 As soon as you look at that wealth, it will surely be gone!
This is because wealth certainly disappears quickly as if it had wings
and flew off into the sky like a fast bird.
6 Do not eat food that stingy people give you.
Do not crave the expensive food that they have,
7 because stingy people are always thinking about how much the food costs them.
They will tell you to eat and drink,
but they do not mean what they say.
8 When you realize this, you will want to vomit what little food you ate.
You will have wasted the kind things you said to them.
9 Do not try to talk to foolish people
because they will only despise the insightful things that you say.
10 Do not cheat people by moving the old stones that mark the boundaries of their land.
Do not claim the land that belongs to defenseless orphans,
11 because Yahweh is the one who redeems them and he is powerful.
He is the one who will defend them when they dispute with you.
12 Consider carefully what people say when they correct you.
Indeed, listen carefully to what people teach you.
13 Do not refuse to discipline your children.
If you physically punish them, they will not die.
14 In fact, if you physically punish your children,
you will prevent them from dying.
15 My child, if you are wise,
then surely I myself will be very happy,
16 and I will be deeply joyful
when you say what is right.
17 Do not envy sinful people;
instead always revere Yahweh.
18 If you do so, then you will surely have a good future,
and what you hope will happen will indeed occur!
19 My child, listen to me so that you can become wise.
Make yourself think about behaving rightly.
20 Stay away from drunkards and gluttons,
21 because drunkards and gluttons will become poor.
They sleep so much that they will only have rags to wear.
22 Pay attention to your father, who enabled you to exist,
and continue to honor your mother when she becomes old.
23 Learn what is true and remember it.
Learn what is wise and instructive and what you should understand.
24 Fathers of righteous people are very joyful.
Indeed, those who father wise people are happy because of them.
25 So do what will make your parents happy!
Do what will make your mother joyful!
26 My son, pay close attention to me!
Carefully observe what I do!
27 Do this because prostitutes are as dangerous as a deep hole.
Indeed, becoming involved with an adulterous woman is as dangerous as falling into a well that you cannot escape from.
28 These very women certainly wait for men to seduce like robbers wait for people to rob.
They cause many men to become unfaithful.
29 These are the kind of people who are woeful, sorrowful, and quarrelsome,
who lament, get hurt for no reason,
and have red eyes:
30 those people who drink too much wine
and are always looking around for wine to drink that someone has prepared.
31 Do not let wine become overly attractive to you, even though it is beautifully red, glistens in the cup,
and goes down your throat smoothly.
32 Afterward you will feel as terrible as if a poisonous snake has bitten you.
33 When you are drunk, you will hallucinate,
and you will imagine distorted things.
34 You will feel dizzy and sick as if you were trying to sleep on a ship that the sea was tossing back and forth.
Indeed, you will feel as if you were trying to sleep while swaying at the top of a ship’s sails.
35 You will say, “People hit me, but it did not hurt.
People beat me, but I did not feel it.
I wish I could be sober
so that I could find even more wine to drink again!”
24 Do not envy evil people;
do not want to associate with them,
2 because they plan to act violently,
and they talk about doing bad things to people.
3 People build households by acting wisely;
they make those households stable by acting sensibly.
4 By acting knowledgeably, people fill the rooms of those households
with all kinds of valuable and delightful riches.
5 Wise people are strong,
and knowledgeable people make themselves more powerful,
6 because letting people advise you will make you fight your war successfully,
and letting many people counsel you will rescue you from losing the war.
7 Foolish people cannot understand what is wise;
they have nothing useful to say in court.
8 Some people are always planning to do evil things;
people refer to them as schemers.
9 Foolish plans are sinful,
and people detest those who ridicule others.
10 If you give up during distressful times,
then you are weak.
11 Save people whom others are trying to kill;
save the ones who will certainly die unless you do something!
12 If you falsely claim that you did not know that those people were dying unjustly, then think about this:
Yahweh knows exactly what you are thinking and he understands what you are doing!
He is the one who keeps you alive and he knows everything about you!
He will surely make people receive what they deserve for whatever they have done or not done!
13 My child, eat honey because it tastes good,
and honey dripping from the comb tastes sweet.
14 Be aware that what is wise is like honey for you.
If you become wise, then you will have a good future,
and what you hope will happen will indeed occur!
15 Do not be like wicked people and hide in wait in order to attack the places where righteous people dwell.
Do not devastate the places where righteous people rest!
16 Do not do so because righteous people can recover many times when disastrous things happen to them,
but disastrous things will destroy wicked people.
17 Do not be happy when something disastrous happens to your adversaries.
Indeed, do not rejoice when that happens!
18 If you do, then Yahweh will notice and disapprove,
so that he stops being angry with your enemies.
19 Do not worry about people who do what is evil.
Do not be envious of wicked people.
20 Do not do so because evil people will not have good futures,
but wicked people will merely die like an oil lamp that stops burning oil.
21 My child, reverently fear Yahweh and kings.
Avoid people who rebel against either Yahweh or the king,
22 because disastrous things will happen quickly to those people,
and no one knows how terribly both Yahweh and kings can destroy others! 23 Here are more things that wise people have said:
It is very evil to favor someone when you judge.
24 If anyone declares that a guilty person is innocent,
many people will curse him and whole people groups will hate him.
25 However, people who condemn guilty people will prosper,
and Yahweh will bless them well.
26 People who answer honestly show that they are true friends.
27 Do the work you must do outside and prepare your fields
before you build your house.
28 Do not testify against someone if you do not have a good reason to do so,
and do not try to deceive people by what you say.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him that same bad thing that he did to me;
I will pay him back for what he did to me!”
30 I walked by the land of a lazy person
and past the vineyard of someone who does not think wisely.
31 And I saw that thistles and weeds were everywhere in that field and vineyard. Even the stone wall surrounding them had fallen down.
32 When I saw that, I considered carefully what I was seeing. When I observed that, I learned this:
33 If you say to yourself, “Let me sleep just a little more!
Let me lay my hands across my chest in order to rest comfortably for a little while longer!”
34 Then the result of being so lazy will be that you will become poor and needy
just as surely as if a thief has robbed you.
25 Here are more wise sayings said by Solomon that the scribes who served Hezekiah, the king of Judah, copied from a scroll that Solomon had written:
2 God shows how glorious he is when he makes something that is difficult for people to understand.
But kings show how glorious they are when they explain something that is difficult for people to understand.
3 As people cannot fully understand how high the sky is or how deep the earth is,
so they cannot fully understand what kings think.
4 People who make things from metal must remove impurities from silver
before they can make that silver into something useful.
5 In the same way, people must remove wicked advisers from the presence of kings
so that they can rule securely by being righteous.
6 Do not promote yourself in front of kings,
and do not pretend to be great.
7 Do not do so because it is better if someone invites you to sit in a place that is closer to the king,
than for someone to embarrass you in front of a royal official whom you have seen by telling you to sit farther away from the king.
8 Do not plead your case too quickly against someone you know.
If you do, then you will not know what to do when that person wins the case and embarrasses you!
9 If you do indeed plead your case against someone you know,
settle it between yourselves and do not tell others any secret about that person.
10 If you do tell a secret, then the people who hear you may shame you for it,
and people will speak badly about you from then on.
11 When someone says something that is very appropriate to a situation,
it is as delightful as seeing golden apples in a setting of silver.
12 When a wise person rebukes someone who is willing to listen,
it is as valuable as a gold ring or jewelry made from the best gold.
13 Reliable messengers are as refreshing to those who send them as cold snow would be refreshing during the summer harvest time;
they refresh the people whom they serve.
14 People who brag about giving something but then do not give it
are as disappointing as clouds and wind that do not bring rain.
15 People can persuade leaders by being patient,
and by speaking gently people can convince those who oppose them to agree with them.
16 If you discover some wild honey, do not eat too much of it.
If you do, then you will become sick from it and vomit.
17 In the same way, do not visit too often the houses of your friends.
If you do, then they may feel that they have had too much of you and even hate you.
18 People who lie when they testify against other people
are deadly, as if they had attacked them with a club, a sword, or a piercing arrow.
19 Trusting treacherous people during distressful times
is like trying to eat with a rotten tooth or trying to walk with a crippled foot.
20 Singing songs to someone who is sad
is as unhelpful as taking a coat off of someone in cold weather
or pouring vinegar on soda.
21 Feed your enemies if they are hungry;
give them something to drink if they are thirsty.
22 Do so because by doing so you will shame them, as if you were pouring burning coals on top of them,
and Yahweh will reward you for doing so.
23 When wind blows from the north, that produces rain.
Similarly, when people tell the secrets of others, that produces angry people.
24 It is better to live alone in a corner of a housetop
than to live inside a house with a wife who always argues with you.
25 When people hear something good from a faraway place,
it is as refreshing as drinking cold water when one is thirsty.
26 When righteous people yield to wicked people,
it is as bad as a spring that people have made murky by walking in it or as bad as a polluted fountain.
27 As it is not good to eat too much honey;
so it is not honorable to try to make people honor you.
28 People who cannot control themselves
are as defenseless as a city that an army has broken into and knocked down its walls.
26 Honoring foolish people is just as inappropriate
as snow falling in hot summer and rain falling during the time to harvest crops.
2 Just as a bird will fly by and not land on you,
so a curse will not harm you if you are innocent.
3 As people must whip horses and bridle donkeys in order to guide them,
so people must physically punish foolish people in order to guide them.
4 Do not reply to foolish people according to their foolish way of thinking.
If you do, then you also will be foolish.
5 Reply to foolish people according to their foolish way of thinking.
If you do not, then they may think that they are wise.
6 Anyone who asks a foolish person to take a message to someone
is doing something as foolish as cutting off his own feet or drinking poison.
7 As the legs of people who cannot walk are useless,
so are the sayings that foolish people say.
8 Honoring foolish people is just as useless
as a harmless weapon.
9 A drunken person picks up a thorn and it will hurt someone,
in the same way a foolish person says a proverb that can only be harmful.
10 People who employ foolish people or random strangers are as dangerous
as someone who randomly shoots arrows at people.
11 Foolish people who do the same foolish thing over and over again
are like dogs that eat what they have vomited up.
12 Consider this: Foolish people are more likely to learn
than people who wrongly think that they are already wise.
13 Lazy people claim that there is a lion in the path
or in the midst of the streets so that they can stay inside their houses and do nothing.
14 As doors swing on their hinges and do not go anywhere,
so lazy people turn back and forth in their beds.
15 Lazy people put their hands in a dish of food,
but they are so lazy that they will not lift the food to their mouths.
16 A typical lazy person wrongly thinks that he is wiser
than several people who answer intelligently.
17 People who make themselves angry because of an argument that does not concern them
are as foolish as people who grab the ears of a dog that is passing by.
18-19 18-19People who trick others
and then say that they were just joking are as dangerous
as a crazy person who shoots deadly flaming arrows at people.
20 Fires stop burning when they have nothing to burn.
In the same way, people stop arguing when no one is gossiping.
21 As charcoal keeps coals burning and wood keeps fires burning,
so people who always argue keep other people arguing.
22 People are eager to listen to what people who gossip say,
and what they say deeply affects those who hear it.
23 People who fervently say that they are your friend while thinking about doing evil things to you
are as deceptive as a cheap clay pot that someone has made to look like silver.
24 People who hate you will use what they say to hide what they feel,
but they are really thinking about how to betray you.
25 Do not believe those people when they speak kindly to you,
because they are thinking many detestable things.
26 Although those people deceive others by pretending that they do not hate you,
When people gather together, they will discover how wicked those people are.
27 People who dig pits to trap others will fall into those pits instead;
and people who try to crush others with stones will become crushed by those stones instead.
28 Liars hate the people whom they hurt,
and flatterers cause disastrous things to happen.
27 Do not brag about what you will do tomorrow,
because you do not know what will happen then.
2 Do not praise yourself; let someone else praise you.
Indeed, let other people praise you, not yourself.
3 Stones and sand are heavy,
but fools are so annoying that they are harder to bear than either of those.
4 Angry people are cruel and furious people are destructive,
but no one can withstand jealous people!
5 It is better to correct people openly, than to love them without showing them that you love them.
6 Friends will be faithful to you by criticizing you when necessary,
but enemies will deceive you by acting affectionately toward you.
7 When people have full stomachs, they do not want to eat even honey.
But when people are hungry, even bitter things taste sweet to them.
8 People who stray from their homes
are like birds that stray from their nests.
9 Fragrant oil and perfume make people feel happy,
but having a friend who advises you sincerely is even better.
10 Do not ignore your friends or your father’s friends.
Do not think that you must go to the house of a relative when something disastrous happens to you.
Rather, it is better to go to a nearby neighbor than to relatives who live far away.
11 My child, make me happy by becoming wise.
Then I will be able to reply to anyone who argues against me.
12 Sensible people observe something dangerous happening and avoid it,
but naive people ignorantly do not avoid it and suffer for doing so.
13 Take the coats of people who promise to pay a loan for someone whom they do not know.
Indeed, hold onto the coats of people who do so for a foreigner.
14 If you rise early in the morning and loudly call out a blessing to your neighbor while he is still sleeping, he will consider it to be a curse, not a blessing.
15 A wife who always argues with you is as annoying as
constantly dripping water on a rainy day.
16 It is as difficult to stop her from arguing as stopping the wind,
or catching oil in one hand.
17 We can use one iron tool to sharpen another iron tool; similarly, when one person shares what he is thinking, it can help another person to think more clearly.
18 Just as people who take care of fruit trees will also eat the fruit from those trees,
so too will masters honor their servants who guard them.
19 When people look in water, the water reflects their faces.
In the same way, what people think reveals what kinds of people they are.
20 Just as the place where dead people go never becomes full;
so people never stop wanting things.
21 People use crucibles and furnaces to test and refine silver and gold.
In the same way, people can know what kind of person someone is by how he reacts when people praise him.
22 If you were to crush a fool the way that you would crush grain into powder,
you would still not be able to find any part of him that is not foolish.
23 Be fully aware of how your sheep are doing.
Indeed, consider carefully how your animals fare.
24 Do so because riches will not last forever.
Even a king’s family will not rule forever!
25 Harvest the grass and then you will see new grass.
Collect and store the plants that grow on the hillside.
26 If you do these things, then you will have lambs with wool that you can clothe yourself with. You will also have male goats that you can sell for enough money to buy a field.
27 You will even have female goats that produce enough milk for yourself, your family,
and your servant girls to drink.
28 Wicked people run away even though no one is chasing them,
but righteous people are as brave as lions.
2 When the people in a country sin, they will continually have new leaders;
but when they have a truly knowledgeable ruler, then they will have a stable government that will last.
3 A poor person who oppresses other poor people
is as destructive as rain that washes away the crops, leaving nothing to eat.
4 People who reject Yahweh’s laws say good things about wicked people;
but people who obey those laws oppose such wicked people.
5 Evil people cannot comprehend what is just,
but people who desire to please Yahweh comprehend everything about it.
6 It is better to be poor and honest
than to be dishonest and rich.
7 Young people who obey Yahweh’s laws are wise,
but young people who carouse with gluttons disgrace their fathers.
8 Money that people gain by charging an unreasonably large amount of interest from those to whom they loan money
will eventually belong to someone who is kind to poor people.
9 Yahweh detests hearing prayers from people
who refuse to obey his laws.
10 People who guide upright people to act evilly
will destroy themselves by what they do,
but people whom Yahweh does not blame for acting wickedly will receive what is good.
11 Rich people tend to think that they are wise,
but perceptive poor people can tell whether or not this is true.
12 People celebrate when righteous people become powerful,
but people hide when wicked people become powerful.
13 People who try to hide the sinful things that they do will never be successful,
but Yahweh will be merciful to people who confess the sinful things that they have done and stop doing them.
14 People who constantly examine how they are thinking and behaving are happy,
but bad things will happen to people who become uncaring about those things.
15 Wicked people who rule over poor people are as dangerous as
a roaring lion or attacking bear.
16 Leaders who are not sensible severely oppress other people,
but people who despise gaining wealth unjustly will live for a long time.
17 People who murder others will keep running away from those who would punish them until they die.
Do not help them!
18 Yahweh will rescue people who continually do what is right,
but people who behave dishonestly will ruin themselves in the end.
19 People who work hard will have enough food to eat,
but people who waste time doing worthless things will only be poor.
20 Yahweh abundantly blesses faithful people,
but he will certainly punish people who are eager to be wealthy.
21 Although it is very evil to unfairly favor one person over another,
some people will sin by doing so to get even a small bribe.
22 People who are eager to become rich are greedy.
They do not realize that they will become poor.
23 Afterward, people appreciate someone who has corrected them
more than they appreciate someone who has spoken flatteringly to them.
24 People who rob their parents and say that doing so is not wrong
are as bad as thieves.
25 Greedy people cause people to argue with each other,
but Yahweh will prosper people who trust him.
26 People who trust in themselves are foolish,
but people who act wisely are the ones who will escape what is dangerous.
27 People who give poor people what they need will have all that they need,
but there are many who will curse people who ignore poor people.
28 People hide when wicked people become powerful,
but when those wicked people die, there will be more and more righteous people.
29 Some people remain stubborn even though other people often correct them;
but someday something will destroy them quickly, and they will not be able to recover.
2 People are joyful when righteous people become influential,
but people are miserable when wicked people rule over them.
3 People who cherish what is wise make their fathers happy,
but people who have sex with prostitutes waste all their money.
4 Kings make the people in their land succeed by acting justly,
but leaders who take money dishonestly ruin the people in their land.
5 People who flatter others
are really just preparing to exploit them in some way
6 Evil people endanger themselves by acting sinfully,
but righteous people sing joyfully and are happy.
7 Righteous people know that they should treat poor people justly,
but wicked people do not even understand that they should know this.
8 People who mock others agitate people throughout a city,
but wise people enable others to remain calm.
9 If wise people dispute with foolish people,
the foolish people will become angry and sneer and not resolve anything.
10 Murderers despise people who always try to do what is right,
but righteous people try to protect them.
11 Foolish people uncontrollably express everything that they feel,
but wise people control how they express what they feel.
12 Leaders who believe the false things that people tell them
have only wicked servants.
13 Poor people and the people who oppress them have at least one thing in common:
Yahweh is the one who causes both of them to live.
14 Kings who judge poor people according to what is true
will always rule securely.
15 If parents punish and correct their children, doing so can make those children wise;
but if parents let their children do whatever they want to do, then their children will disgrace them.
16 People sin more when wicked people rule over them,
but someday Yahweh will destroy those wicked people, and righteous people will see it happen.
17 If you discipline your children, then you will no longer feel worried about their behavior
and they will make you very happy.
18 When the people of a nation do not have messages from Yahweh through his prophets, then they do not control themselves,
but people who obey Yahweh’s laws are happy.
19 You cannot correct servants by only speaking to them
because they will not do what you say even though they understand what you say.
20 Consider this: Foolish people are more likely to do well in life
than people who speak thoughtlessly.
21 If you give your servants everything they want when they are young,
then they will eventually be arrogant.
22 People who easily become angry cause people to argue.
Indeed, angry people cause many people to sin.
23 People will humiliate proud people for being proud,
but people will honor those who are humble.
24 People who take a share of a thief’s spoils greatly endanger themselves;
They hear that Yahweh will curse them for not testifying to what they know, but they do not say anything about the crime.
25 Being anxious is as dangerous as walking into a trap,
but Yahweh will protect people who trust in him.
26 Many people want leaders to help them,
but Yahweh is the only one who surely does for them what is just.
27 Righteous people detest unjust people,
and wicked people detest people who do the right thing.
30 These are the sayings of Agur son of Jakeh, which Yahweh told him to say;
these are what Agur declared to both Ithiel and Ucal:
2 I am certainly less intelligent than other people.
Indeed, I do not understand as much as everyone else understands!
3 I have not learned how to become wise,
nor do I know much about Yahweh, the Holy One.
4 But I will say this: Surely nobody has ever gone to heaven and returned to earth!
Surely nobody has ever controlled the wind!
Surely nobody has ever gathered the water for rain in the clouds!
Surely nobody has ever formed the boundaries of the earth!
You do not know the name of any such person, or the name of his son.
Therefore, you also do not know much!
5 Everything that God says is true;
he is like a shield that protects people who trust him to protect them.
6 Never claim that God has said something other than what he has actually said.
If you do that, then he will correct you and he will prove that you lied about what he said.
7 God, I ask you to do two things;
please do them for me before I die:
8 Please prevent me from being dishonest or speaking what is not true.
Please do not let me become too poor or too rich,
but just provide the proper amount of food for me.
9 because if I become rich, I might say that I do not know you and that I do not need you;
and if I become poor,
I might dishonor you by stealing things.
10 Never say bad things about servants to the people whom they serve.
If you do, then they will curse you, and people will hold you responsible for what you said.
11 Some people disrespect their parents.
12 Some people think that they are sinless,
but they have committed disgusting sins, like people who have covered themselves with excrement.
13 Some people are very proud!
They think that they are better than other people. 14 Some people are very cruel toward others;
they harshly oppress and destroy poor people
as fierce animals attack and eat other animals.
15 Greedy people are like the offspring of leeches
because they always want other people to give them more.
There are three, even four things that always want more:
16 the place where dead people are,
childless women,
soil that never receives enough water,
and fire that keeps consuming more.
17 People who ridicule their fathers,
and refuse to obey their mothers
deserve to die
and have wild animals eat their dead bodies.
18 There are three, even four things, that are too amazing for me to comprehend:
19 how a bird flies in the air,
how a snake slithers over a rock,
how a ship sails in the middle of the ocean,
and how a young man loves a young woman.
20 Acting adulterously is as easy for adulterous women as
eating and wiping their mouths.
Afterward, they claim that they have not sinned at all.
21 There are three, even four, things that the people in the world cannot tolerate:
22 what slaves do who become rulers,
what worthless people do when they have plenty of food to eat,
23 what women whom people hate do when they marry someone,
and what servant girls do who replace the wives of their masters.
24 There are four creatures in the world that are small
but extremely wise:
25 Although ants are not strong,
they store up their food during the summer so that they have it to eat during the winter.
26 Although hyraxes are also not strong,
they are able to make their homes high up in the rocks on cliffs.
27 Although locusts do not have a king,
they move in orderly groups like soldiers in an army.
28 Although anyone can easily catch lizards in his hands,
they can freely enter into kings’ palaces.
29 There are three, even four, things that look very impressive when they walk:
30 lions, which are the most powerful animals
and never flee from anything,
31 strutting male birds, male goats,
and kings whom people are afraid to rebel against.
32 If you have acted foolishly by bragging about yourself,
or if you were plotting to do what is evil,
then stop doing so immediately!
33 Stop doing so because just as churning milk produces butter,
and squeezing a nose produces blood,
making people angry causes them to fight.
31 These are the sayings of King Lemuel; Yahweh had spoken these sayings that his mother had taught him:
2 My son, whom I gave birth to
and whom I vowed to dedicate to Yahweh, listen to me!
3 Do not exhaust yourself by having sex with women;
they can destroy kings.
4 Lemuel, kings and dignitaries should not constantly drink wine,
or greatly desire to drink what can intoxicate them.”
5 They must not do this so that they do not forget the laws that they have made
and prevent all suffering people from getting what they legally deserve.
6 Let dying people drink what can intoxicate them,
and let miserable people drink wine.
7 They can drink what can intoxicate them to forget that they are poor
and to completely forget what troubles them.
8 Defend those who cannot speak for themselves;
defend all those whom others are threatening to kill so that they get what they legally deserve.
9 Defend, judge rightly,
and plead for suffering and poor people to get what they legally deserve.
10 Virtuous and capable women are difficult to find!
This kind of woman is more valuable than precious jewels.
11 Her husband completely trusts her,
and he will always gain many things because of her.
12 Such a woman benefits her husband
for as long as she lives.
13 She gets materials to make clothing for both warm and cool weather,
and she enjoys making that clothing.
14 She is like merchant ships
because she brings food to her home from distant places.
15 She gets up before dawn in order to prepare food for her family
and to prepare some food for her female servants.
16 She carefully evaluates a field and then buys it.
Then she uses some of what she earned by working to plant a vineyard in it.
17 She keeps her body strong,
and she makes her arms strong by working hard.
18 She knows that what she does is very profitable.
She works late into the night.
19 She makes thread for clothing with her own hands.
20 She generously helps people who are poor and suffering.
21 She is not worried that her family will be cold during cold weather
because her whole family has the best clothing.
22 She makes her own blankets to cover beds.
She wears clothing made from expensive cloth.
23 People respect such a woman’s husband at the city gates,
when he sits there with the other leaders of the city.
24 This woman makes clothing and sells it.
She also sells belts to merchants.
25 People notice how strong and dignified she is,
and she is cheerful about what will happen in the future.
26 She speaks wisely,
and when she speaks, she teaches others to be faithful and kind.
27 She carefully watches what happens in her household,
and she is never lazy.
28 This woman’s children stand respectfully and declare that she lives well.
Her husband says good things about her, as well.
29 He says to her, “Many women have acted virtuously and capably,
but you indeed have done better than them all!”
30 Charming women who are not good can deceive people into thinking that they are good,
and beautiful women will be beautiful for only a short time.
However, people will always praise those women who reverently fear Yahweh.
31 Give to such women what they have earned,
and praise them publicly for what they have done.