5  The plans of ethe diligent lead surely to abundance,

but everyone who is fhasty comes gonly to poverty.

6  hThe getting of treasures by a lying tongue

is a ifleeting jvapor and a ksnare of death.2

7  The violence of the wicked will lsweep them away,

because they refuse to do what is just.

8  The way of the guilty mis crooked,

but the conduct of the pure is upright.

9  It is nbetter to live in a corner of the housetop

than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

10  The soul of the wicked desires evil;

his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

11  When oa scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;

when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

12  The Righteous One pobserves the house of the wicked;

he throws the wicked down to ruin.

13  qWhoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor

will himself call out and not be answered.

14  rA gift in secret averts anger,

and a concealed bribe,3 strong wrath.

15  When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous

sbut terror to evildoers.

16  One who wanders from the way of good sense

twill rest in the assembly of the dead.