Proverbs 22–24

22A ^agood name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

Loving favor rather than silver and gold.

²The ^brich and the poor have this in common,

The ^cLord is the maker of them all.

³A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,

But the simple pass on and are ^dpunished.

⁴By humility and the fear of the Lord

Are riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;

He who guards his soul will be far from them.

^6eTrain up a child in the way he should go,

¹And when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The ^frich rules over the poor,

And the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows iniquity will reap ^gsorrow, ²

And the rod of his anger will fail.

^9hHe who has a ³generous eye will be ⁱblessed,

For he gives of his bread to the poor.

^10jCast out the scoffer, and contention will leave;

Yes, strife and reproach will cease.

^11kHe who loves purity of heart

And has grace on his lips,

The king will be his friend.

¹²The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,

But He overthrows the words of the faithless.

^13lThe lazy man says, “There is a lion outside!

I shall be slain in the streets!”

^14mThe mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;

ⁿHe who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;

^oThe rod of correction will drive it far from him.

¹⁶He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches,

And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.

Sayings of the Wise

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

And apply your heart to my knowledge;

¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;

Let them all be fixed upon your lips,

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the Lord;

I have instructed you today, even you.

²⁰Have I not written to you excellent things

Of counsels and knowledge,

^21pThat I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,

^qThat you may answer words of truth

To those who ⁴send to you?

²²Do not rob the ^rpoor because he is poor,

Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate;

^23sFor the Lord will plead their cause,

And plunder the soul of those who plunder them.

²⁴Make no friendship with an angry man,

And with a ^tfurious man do not go,

²⁵Lest you learn his ways

And set a snare for your soul.

^26uDo not be one of those who ⁵shakes hands in a pledge,

One of those who is ⁶surety for debts;

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay,

Why should he take away your bed from under you?

^28vDo not remove the ancient ⁷landmark

Which your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man who ⁸excels in his work?

He will stand before kings;

He will not stand before ⁹unknown men.

23When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

Consider carefully what is before you;

²And put a knife to your throat

If you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies,

For they are deceptive food.

^4aDo not overwork to be rich;

^bBecause of your own understanding, cease!

⁵¹Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

For riches certainly make themselves wings;

They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of ^ca ²miser,

Nor desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

“Eat and drink!” ^dhe says to you,

But his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,

And waste your pleasant words.

^9eDo not speak in the hearing of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove the ancient ³landmark,

Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

^11fFor their Redeemer is mighty;

He will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction,

And your ears to words of knowledge.

^13gDo not withhold correction from a child,

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

¹⁴You shall beat him with a rod,

And deliver his soul from ⁴hell.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,

My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

¹⁶Yes, my ⁵inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak right things.

^17hDo not let your heart envy sinners,

But ⁱbe zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;

^18jFor surely there is a ⁶hereafter,

And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise;

And guide your heart in the way.

^20kDo not mix with winebibbers,

Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

^22lListen to your father who begot you,

And do not despise your mother when she is old.

^23mBuy the truth, and do not sell it,

Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴ⁿThe father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad,

And let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart,

And let your eyes observe my ways.

^27oFor a harlot is a deep pit,

And a seductress is a narrow well.

^28pShe also lies in wait as for a victim,

And increases the unfaithful among men.

^29qWho has woe?

Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions?

Who has complaints?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who ^rhas redness of eyes?

^30sThose who linger long at the wine,

Those who go in search of ^tmixed wine.

³¹Do not look on the wine when it is red,

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it ⁷swirls around smoothly;

³²At the last it bites like a serpent,

And stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

And your heart will utter perverse things.

³⁴Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the ⁸midst of the sea,

Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

³⁵“They ^uhave struck me, but I was not hurt;

They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.

When shall ^vI awake, that I may seek another drink?”

24Do not be ^aenvious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;

²For their heart devises violence,

And their lips talk of troublemaking.

³Through wisdom a house is built,

And by understanding it is established;

⁴By knowledge the rooms are filled

With all precious and pleasant riches.

^5bA wise man is strong,

Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;

^6cFor by wise counsel you will wage your own war,

And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

^7dWisdom is too lofty for a fool;

He does not open his mouth in the gate.

⁸He who ^eplots to do evil

Will be called a ¹schemer.

⁹The devising of foolishness is sin,

And the scoffer is an abomination to men.

¹⁰If you ^ffaint in the day of adversity,

Your strength is small.

^11gDeliver those who are drawn toward death,

And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”

Does not ^hHe who weighs the hearts consider it?

He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?

And will He not render to each man ⁱaccording to his deeds?

¹³My son, ^jeat honey because it is good,

And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;

^14kSo shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul;

If you have found it, there is a ²prospect,

And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;

Do not plunder his resting place;

^16lFor a righteous man may fall seven times

And rise again,

^mBut the wicked shall fall by calamity.

¹⁷ⁿDo not rejoice when your enemy falls,

And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

¹⁸Lest the Lord see it, and ³it displease Him,

And He turn away His wrath from him.

^19oDo not fret because of evildoers,

Nor be envious of the wicked;

²⁰For there will be no prospect for the evil man;

The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, ^pfear the Lord and the king;

Do not associate with those given to change;

²²For their calamity will rise suddenly,

And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

Further Sayings of the Wise

²³These things also belong to the wise:

^qIt is not good to ⁴show partiality in judgment.

^24rHe who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”

Him the people will curse;

Nations will abhor him.

²⁵But those who rebuke the wicked will have ^sdelight,

And a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.

^27tPrepare your outside work,

Make it fit for yourself in the field;

And afterward build your house.

^28uDo not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,

⁵For would you deceive with your lips?

^29vDo not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me;

I will render to the man according to his work.”

³⁰I went by the field of the lazy man,

And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;

³¹And there it was, ^wall overgrown with thorns;

Its surface was covered with nettles;

Its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw it, I considered it well;

I looked on it and received instruction:

^33xA little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to rest;

^34ySo shall your poverty come like ⁶a prowler,

And your need like ⁷an armed man.