Proverbs 17

17Better a dry morsel and quiet with it

than a house filled with feasts of strife.

²A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully,

and in the midst of brothers he will share his inheritance.

³A crucible is for the silver, and a furnace is for the gold,

but Yahweh will test hearts.

⁴He who does evil listens to lips of wickedness,

and the liar gives heed to the tongue of mischief.

⁵He who mocks the poor insults him who made him;

he who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶The crown of the elderly are grandchildren,^a

and the glory of children is their fathers.

⁷Fine speech^b is not becoming a fool,

still less^c is false speech^d for a ruler.

⁸The bribe is a stone of magic in the eyes of its owner;^e

everywhere^f he will turn, he will prosper.

⁹He who forgives an affront fosters love,

but he who waits on a matter will alienate a friend.

¹⁰A rebuke strikes him who understands

deeper than one hundred blows to a fool.

¹¹An evil person will seek only rebellion,

and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²May a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring

and not a fool in his folly.

¹³For he who returns evil for good,

evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴Like the release of water is the beginning of strife;

before it breaks out, stop the quarrel.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,

the two of them are both abominations of Yahweh.

¹⁶Why is this? A price in the hand of a fool,

in order to buy wisdom where^g there is no sense.^h

¹⁷The friend loves at all timesⁱ,

but a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A person who lacks sense^j pledges;^k

he becomes security before his neighbor.

¹⁹He who loves transgression loves strife;

he who builds his high thresholds seeks destruction.

²⁰He who is crooked of heart^l will not find goodness,

and he who is perverse, by his tongue he will fall into calamity.

²¹He who begets a fool, there is trouble for him;

the father of a fool will not rejoice.

²²A cheerful heart is good medicine,

but a downcast spirit will dry out bones.

²³The wicked will accept a bribe from the lap,

in order to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴He who understands sets his face toward wisdom,

but the eyes of a fool, to the end of the earth.^m

²⁵A grief to his father is the child of a fool,

and bitterness to her who bore him.

²⁶Also, imposing a fine on the righteous is not good,

nor to flog nobles for uprightness.

²⁷He who spares his sayings knows knowledge,

and a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool who keeps silent shall be considered wise;ⁿ

he who closes his lips is intelligent.