Proverbs 22:17–24:22
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise;
you shall apply your heartn to my teaching.
18 For it is pleasant if you guard them ⌊within you⌋;o
together they will be ready upon your lips.
19 In order for your trust to be in Yahweh,
I have made them known to you ⌊today⌋p—evenq you.
20 Have I not written for you thirty sayings
with admonitions and knowledge?
21 In order to show you what is right—sayings of truth—
in order to return a true saying to him who sent you.
22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
and do not crush the afflicted at the gate;
23 For Yahweh will plead their case
and despoil those who despoil them of life.r
24 Do not befriend an owners of ⌊anger⌋,t
and with a man of wrath you shall not associate;
and become entangled in a snare to yourself.u
26 Do not be with those who ⌊give a pledge⌋v
⌊by becoming⌋w surety.
27 If there is nothing for you to pay,x
why will he take your bed from under you?
28 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker
which your ancestorsy made.
29 A man who is skillful in his work, you shall see:
before kings, he will serve;
he will not serve before the commoners.
23 When you sit to eat with a ruler,
you shall surely observe what is before you,
2 and you shall put a knife to your throat
if you have a ⌊big appetite⌋.a
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
forb it is food of deception.
4 Do not tire in order to become rich;
out of your understanding, may you desist.
5 Your eyes will ⌊alight⌋c on it, but there is nothing to it,
for suddenly it will make for itself wings
like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.
6 Do not eat the bread of ⌊the stingy⌋,d
and do not desire his delicacies.
7 For, like hair in his ⌊throat⌋,e so it is.f
“Eat and drink!” he will say to you,
but his heart will not be with you.
8 Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up,
and you will waste your pleasant words.
9 In the ears of a fool do not speak,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,
and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;
11 For their redeemer is strong,
he himself will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heartg to instruction,
and your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child,
if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,
and his lifeh you will save from Sheol.i
15 My child, if your heartj is wise,
my heart will be glad—even me!
16 And my ⌊insides⌋k will rejoice
when your lips speak what is upright.
17 May your heartl not envy the sinners,
but live in fear of Yahweh ⌊all day⌋.m
18 ⌊Surely⌋n there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19 You, my child, hear and be wise,
and direct your hearto on the road.
20 Do not be among drinkers of wine,
among gluttonous eaters of ⌊their meat⌋.p
21 For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor,
and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.
22 Listen to your father—he who ⌊gave you life⌋,q
and do not despise your mother whenr she is old.
23 Buy truth and do not sell it,
wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;
he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.
25 May your father and your mother be glad,
and may she who bore you rejoice.
26 My child, may you give your hearts to me,
and may your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a deep pit is a prostitute,t
and a narrow well is ⌊an adulteress⌋.u
28 She is also like a robber lying in wait,
and the faithless among mankind she increases.
29 To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint?
To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is redness of the eyes?
30 To those who linger over wine,
to those who come to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it ⌊sparkles⌋v on the cup,
going down smoothly.
32 ⌊In the end⌋,w it will bite like a serpent,
and it will sting like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heartx will speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea,
and like him who lies down on top of a mast.
35 “They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it.
When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again.”
and do not desire to be with them.
2 For their minds will devise violence,
and their lips will speak mischief.
and by understanding it is established.
4 And by knowledge, rooms are filled
with all riches, precious and pleasant.
5 The warrior of wisdom is in strength,
and a man of knowledge is strong in power.
6 For with wise guidance you shall make war for yourself,
and victory is in an abundance of counsel.
7 Wisdom is too high for fools;
at the gate he will not open his mouth.
8 He who plans to do evil fora himself,
they will call him “masterb of mischief.”
and an abomination to humankind is a scoffer.
10 If you faint on the day of adversity,
little is your strength.
11 Rescue those who are led away to the death
and those who stagger to the slaughter. If you hold back,
12 if you say, “Look, we do not know this,”
does not he who weighs hearts perceive it?
And he who keeps your soul,c
he knows and will repay humankind according to his deeds.
13 My child, eat honey, for it is good,
and the dripping of the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
14 Thus know wisdom for the sake of your soul,d
if you find it, then there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
15 Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous;
do not do violence to his dwelling place.
16 For seven times the righteous will fall, but he will rise,
but the wicked will be overthrown by calamity.
17 While your enemies are falling, do not rejoice;
when he trips himself, may your hearte not be glad
18 lest Yahweh see and it be evil in his eyes,
and turn his anger away from him.
19 Do not fret because of the evildoers;
do not envy the wicked.
20 For there will not be a future for the evil;
the lamp of the wicked will die out.
21 Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king;
with those who change, do not associate.
22 For suddenly their disaster will come,
and the ruin of ⌊both of them⌋,f who knows?