Proverbs 22:17–24:22

¹⁷Incline thine ear, and hear words of the wise, And thy heart set to my knowledge, ¹⁸For they are pleasant when thou dost keep them in thy heart, They are prepared together for thy lips. ¹⁹That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I caused thee to know to-day, even thou. ²⁰Have I not written to thee three times With counsels and knowledge? ²¹To cause thee to know the certainty of sayings of truth, To return sayings of truth to those sending thee.

²²Rob not the poor because he is poor, And bruise not the afflicted in the gate. ²³For Jehovah pleadeth their cause, And hath spoiled the soul of their spoilers.

²⁴Shew not thyself friendly with an angry man, And with a man of fury go not in, ²⁵Lest thou learn his paths, And have received a snare to thy soul.

²⁶Be not thou among those striking hands, Among sureties for burdens. ²⁷If thou hast nothing to pay, Why doth he take thy bed from under thee?

²⁸Remove not a border of olden times, That thy fathers have made.

²⁹Hast thou seen a man speedy in his business? Before kings he doth station himself, He stations not himself before obscure men!

Chapter 23

¹When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which is before thee, ²And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou art a man of appetite. ³Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it is lying food.

⁴Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not. ⁵For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.

⁶Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties, ⁷For as he hath thought in his soul, so is he, ‘Eat and drink,’ saith he to thee, And his heart is not with thee. ⁸Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that are sweet.

⁹In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not, ¹¹For their Redeemer is strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.

¹²Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge. ¹³Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not. ¹⁴Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest. ¹⁵My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine, ¹⁶And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.

¹⁷Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But—in the fear of Jehovah all the day. ¹⁸For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart, ²⁰Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh, ²¹For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags. ²²Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old. ²³Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding, ²⁴The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him. ²⁵Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful. ²⁶Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways. ²⁷For a harlot is a deep ditch, And a strange woman is a strait pit. ²⁸She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.

²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? ³⁰Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine. ³¹See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright. ³²Its latter end—as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth. ³³Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things. ³⁴And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast. ³⁵‘They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!’

Chapter 24

¹Be not envious of evil men, And desire not to be with them. ²For destruction doth their heart meditate, And perverseness do their lips speak.

³By wisdom is a house builded, And by understanding it establisheth itself. ⁴And by knowledge the inner parts are filled, With all precious and pleasant wealth. ⁵Mighty is the wise in strength, And a man of knowledge is strengthening power, ⁶For by plans thou makest for thyself war, And deliverance is in a multitude of counsellors.

⁷Wisdom is high for a fool, In the gate he openeth not his mouth. ⁸Whoso is devising to do evil, Him they call a master of wicked thoughts. ⁹The thought of folly is sin, And an abomination to man is a scorner.

¹⁰Thou hast shewed thyself weak in a day of adversity, Straitened is thy power,

¹¹If from delivering those taken to death, And those slipping to the slaughter—thou keepest back. ¹²When thou sayest, ‘Lo, we knew not this.’ Is not the Ponderer of hearts He who understandeth? And the Keeper of thy soul He who knoweth? And He hath rendered to man according to his work.

¹³Eat my son, honey that is good, And the honeycomb—sweet to thy palate. ¹⁴So is the knowledge of wisdom to thy soul, If thou hast found that there is a posterity And thy hope is not cut off.

¹⁵Lay not wait, O wicked one, At the habitation of the righteous. Do not spoil his resting-place. ¹⁶For seven times doth the righteous fall and rise, And the wicked stumble in evil.

¹⁷In the falling of thine enemy rejoice not, And in his stumbling let not thy heart be joyful, ¹⁸Lest Jehovah see, and it be evil in His eyes, And He hath turned from off him His anger.

¹⁹Fret not thyself at evil doers, Be not envious at the wicked, ²⁰For there is not a posterity to the evil, The lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

²¹Fear Jehovah, my son, and the king, With changers mix not up thyself, ²²For suddenly doth their calamity rise, And the ruin of them both—who knoweth!