10 Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;

quarrels and insults are ended.b

11 One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace

will have the king for a friend.c

12 The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,

but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

13 The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside!d

I’ll be killed in the public square!”

14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit;e

a man who is under the Lord’s wrath falls into it.f

15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.g

16 One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth

and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

17 Pay attentionh and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise;i

apply your heart to what I teach,j

18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart

and have all of them ready on your lips.

19 So that your trust may be in the Lord,

I teach you today, even you.

20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you,

sayings of counsel and knowledge,