Proverbs 11

11The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights.

²People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.

³If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can’t be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty.

⁴Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life.

⁵Honesty makes a good person’s life easier, but the wicked will cause their own downfall.

⁶Righteousness rescues those who are honest, but those who can’t be trusted are trapped by their own greed.

⁷When the wicked die, their hope dies with them. Confidence placed in riches comes to nothing.

⁸The righteous are protected from trouble; it comes to the wicked instead.

⁹You can be ruined by the talk of godless people, but the wisdom of the righteous can save you.

¹⁰A city is happy when honest people have good fortune, and there are joyful shouts when the wicked die.

¹¹A city becomes great when the righteous give it their blessing; but a city is brought to ruin by the words of the wicked.

¹²It is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are sensible, you will keep quiet.

¹³No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy.

¹⁴A nation will fall if it has no guidance. Many advisers mean security.

¹⁵If you promise to pay a stranger’s debt, you will regret it. You are better off if you don’t get involved.

¹⁶A gracious woman is respected, but a woman without virtue is a disgrace.

Lazy people will never have money,^k but aggressive people will get rich.

¹⁷You do yourself a favour when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.

¹⁸Wicked people do not really gain anything, but if you do what is right, you are certain to be rewarded.

¹⁹Anyone who is determined to do right will live, but anyone who insists on doing wrong will die.

²⁰The Lord hates evil-minded people, but loves those who do right.

²¹You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape.

²²Beauty in a woman without good judgement is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³What good people want always results in good; when the wicked get what they want, everyone is angry.^l

²⁴Some people spend their money freely and still grow richer. Others are cautious, and yet grow poorer.

²⁵Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped.

²⁶People curse someone who hoards grain, waiting for a higher price, but they praise the one who puts it up for sale.

²⁷If your goals are good, you will be respected, but if you are looking for trouble, that is what you will get.

²⁸Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer.

²⁹Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end.

Foolish people will always be servants to the wise.

³⁰Righteousness^m gives life, but violenceⁿ takes it away.

^31*Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished.