Proverbs 22:17–24:22

Words of the Wise

¹⁷Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise;

you shall apply your heartⁿ to my teaching.

¹⁸For it is pleasant if you guard them within you;^o

together they will be ready upon your lips.

¹⁹In order for your trust to be in Yahweh,

I have made them known to you today^p—even^q you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings

with admonitions and knowledge?

²¹In order to show you what is right—sayings of truth—

in order to return a true saying to him who sent you.

²²Do not rob the poor because he is poor,

and do not crush the afflicted at the gate;

²³For Yahweh will plead their case

and despoil those who despoil them of life.^r

²⁴Do not befriend an owner^s of anger,^t

and with a man of wrath you shall not associate;

²⁵lest you learn his way

and become entangled in a snare to yourself.^u

²⁶Do not be with those who give a pledge^v

by becoming^w surety.

²⁷If there is nothing for you to pay,^x

why will he take your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not remove an ancient boundary marker

which your ancestors^y made.

²⁹A man who is skillful in his work, you shall see:

before kings, he will serve;

he will not serve before the commoners.

23When you sit to eat with a ruler,

you shall surely observe what is before you,

²and you shall put a knife to your throat

if you have a big appetite.^a

³Do not desire his delicacies,

for^b it is food of deception.

⁴Do not tire in order to become rich;

out of your understanding, may you desist.

⁵Your 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.

⁶Do not eat the bread of the stingy,^d

and do not desire his delicacies.

⁷For, 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.

⁸Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up,

and you will waste your pleasant words.

⁹In the ears of a fool do not speak,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,

and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

¹¹For their redeemer is strong,

he himself will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart^g to instruction,

and your ear to sayings of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child,

if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,

and his life^h you will save from Sheol.ⁱ

¹⁵My child, if your heart^j is wise,

my heart will be glad—even me!

¹⁶And my insides^k will rejoice

when your lips speak what is upright.

¹⁷May your heart^l not envy the sinners,

but live in fear of Yahweh all day.^m

¹⁸Surelyⁿ there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹You, my child, hear and be wise,

and direct your heart^o on the road.

²⁰Do not be among drinkers of wine,

among gluttonous eaters of their meat.^p

²¹For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor,

and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.

²²Listen to your father—he who gave you life,^q

and do not despise your mother when^r she is old.

²³Buy truth and do not sell it,

wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;

he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.

²⁵May your father and your mother be glad,

and may she who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My child, may you give your heart^s to me,

and may your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a deep pit is a prostitute,^t

and a narrow well is an adulteress.^u

²⁸She is also like a robber lying in wait,

and the faithless among mankind she increases.

²⁹To 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?

³⁰To those who linger over wine,

to those who come to try mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles^v on the cup,

going down smoothly.

³²In the end,^w it will bite like a serpent,

and it will sting like an adder.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your heart^x will speak perverse things.

³⁴And 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.”

24Do not envy men of evil,

and do not desire to be with them.

²For their minds will devise violence,

and their lips will speak mischief.

³By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established.

⁴And by knowledge, rooms are filled

with all riches, precious and pleasant.

⁵The warrior of wisdom is in strength,

and a man of knowledge is strong in power.

⁶For with wise guidance you shall make war for yourself,

and victory is in an abundance of counsel.

⁷Wisdom is too high for fools;

at the gate he will not open his mouth.

⁸He who plans to do evil for^a himself,

they will call him “master^b of mischief.”

⁹Devising folly is a sin,

and an abomination to humankind is a scoffer.

¹⁰If you faint on the day of adversity,

little is your strength.

¹¹Rescue those who are led away to the death

and those who stagger to the slaughter. If you hold back,

¹²if 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.

¹³My child, eat honey, for it is good,

and the dripping of the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Thus 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.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous;

do not do violence to his dwelling place.

¹⁶For seven times the righteous will fall, but he will rise,

but the wicked will be overthrown by calamity.

¹⁷While your enemies are falling, do not rejoice;

when he trips himself, may your heart^e not be glad

¹⁸lest Yahweh see and it be evil in his eyes,

and turn his anger away from him.

¹⁹Do not fret because of the evildoers;

do not envy the wicked.

²⁰For there will not be a future for the evil;

the lamp of the wicked will die out.

²¹Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king;

with those who change, do not associate.

²²For suddenly their disaster will come,

and the ruin of both of them,^f who knows?