Proverbs 22:17–24:22

Sayings of the Wise

¹⁷The words of the wise:

Incline your ear and hear my words^t

and apply your mind to my teaching,

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,

if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the Lord,

I have made them known to you today, yes, to you.^*

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty^u sayings

of admonition and knowledge,^*

²¹to show you what is right and true,

so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?^*

²²Do not rob the poor because they are poor

or crush the afflicted at the gate,^*

²³for the Lord pleads their cause

and despoils of life those who despoil them.^*

²⁴Make no friends with those given to anger,

and do not associate with hotheads,

²⁵lest you learn their ways

and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Do not be one of those who give pledges,

who become surety for debts.^*

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay,

why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not remove the ancient landmark

that your ancestors set up.^*

²⁹Do you see those who are skillful in their work?

They will serve kings;

they will not serve common people.^*

²³When you sit down to eat with an official,

observe carefully what^v is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat

if you have a big appetite.

³Do not desire an official’s^w delicacies,

for they are deceptive food.^*

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

be wise enough to desist.^*

⁵When your eyes light upon it, it is gone,

for suddenly it takes wings to itself,

flying like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of the stingy;

do not desire their delicacies,^*

⁷for like a hair in the throat, so are they.^x

“Eat and drink!” they say to you,

but they do not mean it.^*

⁸You will vomit up the little you have eaten,

and you will waste your pleasant words.

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

who will only despise the wisdom of your words.^*

¹⁰Do not remove an ancient landmark

or encroach on the fields of orphans,^*

¹¹for their vindicator^y is strong;

he will plead their cause against you.^*

¹²Apply your mind to instruction

and your ear to words of knowledge.^*

¹³Do not withhold discipline from your children;

if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.^*

¹⁴If you beat them with the rod,

you will save their lives from Sheol.

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise,

my heart also will be glad.

¹⁶My soul will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but always continue in the fear of the Lord.^*

¹⁸Surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my child, and be wise,

and direct your mind in the way.

²⁰Do not be among winebibbers

or among gluttonous eaters of meat,^*

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

and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.^*

²²Listen to your father who begot you,

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

²³Buy truth, and do not sell it;

buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.^*

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.^*

²⁵Let your father and mother be glad;

let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My child, give me your heart,

and let your eyes observe^z my ways.^*

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit;

an adulteress^a is a narrow well.^*

²⁸She lies in wait like a robber

and increases the number of the faithless.^*

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has strife? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?^*

³⁰Those who linger late over wine,

those who keep trying mixed wines.^*

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup

and goes down smoothly.

³²At the last it bites like a serpent

and stings like an adder.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind utter perverse things.^*

³⁴You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,

like one who lies on the top of a mast.^b

³⁵“They struck me,” you will say,^c “but I was not hurt;

they beat me, but I did not feel it.

When shall I awake?

I will seek another drink.”^*

²⁴Do not envy the wicked,

nor desire to be with them,^*

²for their minds devise violence,

and their lips talk of mischief.^*

³By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established;^*

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵Wise warriors are mightier than strong ones^d

and those who have knowledge than those who have strength,^*

⁶for by wise guidance you can wage your war,

and in abundance of counselors there is victory.^*

⁷Wisdom is too high for fools;

in the gate they do not open their mouths.^*

⁸Whoever plans to do evil

will be called a mischief-maker.^*

⁹The devising of folly is sin,

and the scoffer is an abomination to all.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity,

your strength being small;^*

¹¹if you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death,

those who go staggering to the slaughter;^*

¹²if you say, “Look, we did not know this”—

does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it?

And will he not repay all according to their deeds?^*

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

and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.^*

¹⁴Know that wisdom is such to your soul;

if you find it, you will find 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 no violence to the place where the righteous live;^*

¹⁶for though they fall seven times, they will rise again,

but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.^*

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemies fall,

and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble,^*

¹⁸lest the Lord see it and be displeased

and turn away his anger from them.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers.

Do not envy the wicked,^*

²⁰for the evil have no future;

the lamp of the wicked will go out.^*

²¹My child, fear the Lord and the king,

and do not disobey either of them,^e*

²²for disaster comes from them suddenly,

and who knows the ruin that both can bring?