The Book of Proverbs
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David,
king of Israel,
2 For knowing wisdom and instruction,
for understanding sentences of insight,
3 For getting instruction in the successful practice
of honesty and justice and rectitude,
4 For giving shrewdness to simpletons,
knowledge and practicality to a boy,
5 While a wise man hears and adds to his lore
and an expert acquires technique;
6 For understanding proverb and paradox,
wise men’s words and their riddles.
7 Fear of Jehovah is the first thing in knowledge.
Wisdom and instruction ignoramuses despise.
8 Listen, son, to your father’s instruction,
and never abandon your mother’s teachings,
9 Because they are a becoming garland for your head
and a necklace for your throat.
10 My son, if sinners are inveigling you
do not consent.
11* If they say “Come with us,
let us lay an ambush for bloodshed,
set a trap for an innocent man for nothing;
12 We shall swallow them alive like the grave,
sound and whole like men going down to the world below;
13 We shall come across all sorts of valuable goods,
fill our houses with booty;
15 My son, do not walk on a road with them,
keep your foot off their path,
16 Because their feet are running to evil
and hurrying to shed blood.
17 For it is for nothing that the net flutters
before the eyes of any bird,
20 Wisdom holloos on the street,
sends out her voice in the squares,
21 Calls out at the crowded corners,
says her say in the city at the gates,
22 “How long, simpletons, will you love simpleness,
and cynics like to be cynical,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 You should turn back at my admonition;
I would stream my spirit for you,
would make my words known to you.
24 Since I have called and you refused,
held out my hand and nobody listened,
25 And you neglected my advice
and would not have my admonition,
26 I on my part will laugh at your calamity,
will make fun when what you dread comes,
27 When what you dread comes like a thunderstorm
and your calamity arrives like a gale,
when distress and hard straits come upon you;
28 Then they will call me and I will not answer,
they will go in quest of me and not find me.
29 Inasmuch as they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of Jehovah,
30 Would not have my advice,
despised all my admonition,
31 They shall eat out of the fruit of their courses
and have their fill out of their policies,
32 Because simpletons’ broken resolutions kill them
and fools’ faith in their luck destroys them.
33 But he who listens to me shall dwell unafraid
and be at ease from dread of harm.”
2 My son, if you take what I say
and lay up my commands in your mind,
2 Giving a listening ear to wisdom
and directing your heart to intelligence,
3 If you call up discretion
and to intelligence you raise your voice,
4 If you hunt for it as you would for silver
and search for it as you would for buried treasure,
5 Then you shall understand the fear of Jehovah
and find the knowledge of God,
6 Because Jehovah gives wisdom;
out of his mouth come knowledge and intelligence;
7 He lays away sensible ideas for the upright,
shields those who walk conscientiously,
8 Protecting law-abiding ways
and guarding the road of the men of his friendship;
9 Then you shall understand right and justice
and fair dealing, every good line,
10 Because wisdom shall come into your heart
and knowledge be delicious to your soul;
11 Good judgment shall guard you,
intelligence shall keep you,
12 Delivering you from a bad course,
from men who talk mischief,
13 Those who leave straightforward ways
to go on roads of darkness,
15 Whose ways are crooked
and they take dodging roads;
16 Delivering you from a stranger woman,
a smooth-talking foreigner,
17 That leaves the mate of her girlhood
and forgets the covenant of her god,
19 Any who go in to her will never come back
nor reach the ways to life,—
20 In order that you may walk in good men’s path
and keep to honest men’s ways,
21 Because straightforward men will people earth
and conscientious men remain in it,
22 But wrong-doers will be extirpated from earth
and faithless men torn out from it.
3 My son, do not forget my instructions,
but let your heart keep my commands,
4 And find favor and a reputation for judiciousness
in the eyes of God and men.
5 Trust in Jehovah with all your heart
and do not lean on your own expertness;
6 Along all your courses know him
and he will keep your ways straight.
7 Do not feel as if you were wise;
fear Jehovah and steer clear of what is bad;
8 It will be medicine for your navel
and juice for your bones.
9 Honor Jehovah out of your means
and out of the first of all your produce,
10 And have your barns filled with foodstuffs
and your vats bursting with grape-juice.
11 Do not reject Jehovah’s discipline, my son,
nor chafe at his correction,
12 Because it is the one Jehovah loves that he corrects
and he hurts a son who is acceptable to him.
13 Happy a man who finds wisdom
and a person who obtains intelligence,
14 Because it is a better bargain than silver,
better revenue than hard gold,
15 It is worth more than coral
and all your valuables are no equivalent for it.
16 It has long life in its right hand,
riches and honor in its left.
17 Its courses are courses of delight
and all its paths are prosperity.
18* It is bark from a tree of life for those who grasp it,
and one who handles it is to be congratulated.
21 My son, never let them get away from your eyes;
keep sense and judgment;
22 They will make your life vital
and your neck fine.
26 For Jehovah will be your reliance
and guard your foot from getting caught.
27 Do not withhold a kindness from the one who might receive it when it is in your power to do it.
28 Do not say to your neighbor “Go along, come again
and tomorrow I will let you have some” when you have some by you.
29 Do not cook up harm for your neighbor
when he is living with you unsuspiciously.
30 Do not quarrel gratuitously with people
if they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy a rapacious man
nor choose any of his courses,
32 Because a crook is a thing Jehovah detests
but upright men stand on intimate terms with him.
33 Jehovah’s malediction is in a wrong-doer’s house,
but honest men’s home he blesses.
35 Wise men come in for glory,
but disgrace makes fools conspicuous.
4 Hear, sons, a father’s tuition,
and listen to knowledge of discretion,
2 Because I have given you good doctrine;
do not abandon my instructions.
3 For I was a son of my father’s,
a tender only child before my mother,
5 Get wisdom, get discretion;
do not forget and do not deviate from the words of my mouth;
6 Do not abandon her but keep her;
love her and she will guard you.
7 The first thing in wisdom is—Get wisdom!
and pay all your assets for discretion.
8 Prize her and she will exalt you,
she will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
9 She will give your head a garland of grace,
will deliver to you a crown of grandeur.”
10 Hear, son, and receive what I say
and it will make your years of life many.
11 I have directed you on the course of wisdom
and set you on level roads:
12 In your walking your steps will not be cramped,
and if you run you will not stumble.
13 Hold fast to discipline, do not let go;
keep her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of wrong-doers
nor tread the course of wicked men.
15 Disregard it, do not pass along it,
sheer off from it and go past,
16* Because they do not get to sleep unless they have done something bad
and are robbed of their sleep if they do not do an injury;
18* But right-doers’ path is like the rays of light,
growing lighter and lighter till it is settled day.
19 Wrong-doers’ course is like murky gloom:
they do not know what they will stumble over.
20 My son, listen to my words;
bend your ear to my sayings;
21 Do not let them get away from your eyes;
guard them in the core of your heart,
23 Beyond everything that you take care of keep your heart,
for out of it come springs of life.
25 Let your eyes look right onward
and your gaze be directed straight before you,
26 See to the road for your feet
and let all your courses be steady,
27 Do not turn off to right or left;
Keep your feet aloof from what is bad.
5 My son, listen to my wisdom,
bend your ear to my insight,
4 But her aftermath is bitter as wormwood,
sharper than a two-edged sword.
7 But now, sons, listen to me
and do not deviate from what my mouth tells:
8 Make your course far from her,
do not come near the door of her house,
10 For fear strangers should consume your strength at will
and your pains come into a foreigner’s house;
11 And in the sequel you should repent,
when your flesh and muscle give out,
12 And say “How I did hate instruction
and my heart despised admonition,
13 And I did not obey my preceptors
nor bend my ear to my teachers!
14 I was within a tittle of coming to the utmost harm
in the midst of assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water out of your own cistern
and the flow out of the middle of your own well.
16 Your fountains would scatter to the street,
rills of water through the squares!
17 Let them be for you alone
and nothing for strangers with you.
18 Be your springhead blessed,
and have joy out of the wife of your youth.
19 Doe of love, ibex of grace,
her breasts shall refresh you at every time,
with love of her you shall be always maddened.
20 And why, son, should you be maddened with a stranger
and embrace a foreigner’s bosom?
21 For a man’s courses face Jehovah’s eyes,
who observes all the roads he takes.
22 His guilt will clutch him, the wrong-doer,
and he will be caught in the cords of his sin.
6 My son, if you have gone security to another,
have struck hands with a stranger,
2 You are trapped in the word of your lips,
caught in the say of your mouth.
3 Do this, son, do, and deliver yourself,
because you have got into the other man’s hand:
go cringe to the other man and bluster at him.
4 Give your eyes no sleep,
your eyelashes no slumber;
5 Break loose like a gazelle struggling out of toils
or a bird out of a fowler’s hand.
6 Go to an ant, idler,
see its courses and become wise:
7 It, that has no chieftain,
marshal, nor ruler,
8 Lays in its food in summer,
gets its provisions packed away in harvesttime.
9 How long will you lie abed, idler?
when will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding your arms to lie abed—
11 And your poverty shall come like a prowler
and your want like a man under arms.
13 Winks with his eyes, shuffles with his feet,
makes signs with his fingers,
14 Has mischief in his heart, is working up harm every minute, sets quarrels going,—
15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly,
he will be incurably broken all at once.
16 Six things there are that Jehovah hates,
seven that are detestable to his soul:
17 Lofty eyes, a false tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that frames plans of villainy,
feet that run fast to what is bad,
19 A lie-blowing false witness,
and one who sets quarrels going between brothers.
20 Keep your father’s command, my son,
and never abandon your mother’s teachings;
21 Tie them over your heart always,
string them round your throat.
22 When you walk it will guide you,
when you lie down it will watch over you
and you will wake up with it minding you.
23 For a command is a lamp and a teaching is light,
and the admonition of discipline is a road to life,
24 To guard you from a ruinous woman,
from the slipperiness of a foreign dame’s tongue.
25 Do not take inward pleasure in her beauty;
let her not catch you with her eyelashes,
26 Because on account of an unchaste woman one comes down to a loaf of bread,
and a man’s wife hunts dear lives.
28 Or will a man walk on live coals
and his feet not be burned?
29 So it is with him who goes in to another’s wife:
nobody who touches her will go free.
31 But one who is found pays back sevenfold,
gives all the goods in his house.
32 One who commits adultery with a wife lacks brains;
it is a self-destroyer that does it.
33 He will get blows and dishonor,
and his ignominy will be uneffaceable.
34 For jealousy is a man’s fury,
and he will be unsparing on the day of revenge;
35 He will not take any composition-money into consideration, will not consent though you offer a high price.
7 My son, be careful of what I say
and lay up my commands in your mind.
2 Be careful of my commands and live;
and of my teaching as if of the apple of your eye.
3 Tie them to your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom “you are my sister,”
and call discretion a relative,
5 To guard you from a stranger woman,
from a foreigner that talks slippery language.
6 For I looked out of my house window,
through my lattice,
8 Going along the street that went by her corner
and stepping in the direction of her house
9 In the twilight, the evening hours,
in the dead of night and the murky gloom;
11 Boisterous and wayward is she,
her feet do not perch in her house;
12 Now in the street, now in the squares,
and beside every corner she lies in ambush;—
13 And she caught hold of him and kissed him,
said to him with a bold face
15 That was why I came out to meet you,
to hunt up your face, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with rugs,
striped work of Egyptian yarn,
17 I have sifted myrrh, eaglewood,
and cinnamon over my sofa.
18 Come on, we will quaff love till morning,
have a gay night with endearments,
19 Because husband is not in the house,
he is off on a long journey,
20 He took the moneybag with him;
he will get home the day the moon is full.”
21 She swayed him with the thoroughness of her technique,
tugged at him with the glibness of her lips—
22* He suddenly goes along after her
like a steer coming to the slaughter,
Or as a buck prances toward a decoy
23 till an arrow cuts open his liver;
Like a bird’s hurrying into a trap
and not knowing that its life is at stake.
24 Now, sons, hear me
and listen to the words of my mouth:
25 Let your hearts not run off into her roads,
do not stray along her paths,
26 Because she has stabbed down many
and all her killed are a multitude.
8 Is not wisdom calling
and intelligence sending out her voice?
2 On the brows of wayside eminences,
at crossroads she takes her stand;
3 At the sides of gates, at the entrances of towns,
at the approaches to gateways she holloos
4 “To you, men, I call,
and my voice goes to humankind:
5 Appreciate shrewdness, simpletons;
fools, provide yourselves with brains.
6 Hear, for I will speak sound sense,
and what my lips are opened for shall be correct,
7 Because my throat breathes truth
and wrong is an abomination to my lips,
8 All that my mouth says is on the right side,
there is nothing tricky and crooked in it,
9 It is all obvious to a man of understanding
and plain to those who find knowledge.
10 Take my instruction and not silver—
knowledge is preferable to hard gold;
11 For wisdom is a better thing than coral
and all valuables are no equivalent for it.
13 The fear of Jehovah is the hate of what is bad;
pride and pretentiousness and a bad course
and a mischief-making mouth I hate.
14 Mine are sound policies and sensible ideas;
I am discretion, mine is power.
15 By me kings reign
and potentates prescribe the right;
16 By me generals command
and nobles, all the judges of earth.
17 I love those who love me,
and those who go in quest of me will find me.
18 Riches and honor I have on hand,
goodly resources and a right-doer’s standing.
19 My fruit is better than hard gold, red gold,
and the produce I reap is preferable to silver.
20 On a highway of right I walk,
on midmost paths of justice,
21 Dispensing assets to those who love me
and filling their coffers.
23 Of old I was constituted,
at first before the origins of earth.
25 Earlier than mountains I was planted,
before hills I came to birth,
26 When he had not made earth and open spaces
and the multitudinous particles of the soil of the world.
28 When he braced the ether above,
when he fortified the springs of the deep,
29 When he set his limit for the sea
and water does not overstep his dictate,
When he strengthened the foundations of earth,
30 I was master-workman at his side
And was taking my pleasure day by day,
playing before him at every time,
32 And now, sons, listen to me—
happy are those who keep on my courses.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
35 Because he who finds me has found life
and obtained favor from Jehovah,
36 But he who sins against me is victimizing himself;
all who hate me love death.”
9 Wisdom has built her house,
has shaped her pillars seven,
2 Has killed animals for her meat, mixed her wine,
set her table too,
3 Has sent her girls, calls out
on the crests of eminences in the city
4 “Who is a simpleton? let him come this way;
brainless? that I may say to him
5 ‘Come, have some of my dinner
and drink some of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave off simpleness and have life,
and tread the road of discretion.”’
7 —He who offers instruction to a cynic gets dishonor for himself, and he who admonishes a wicked man, it is his discredit.
8 Do not admonish a cynic, for fear he should hate you;
admonish a wise man and he will love you.
9 Give to a wise man and he will be wiser yet;
advise a right-minded man and he will add to his lore.
10 The beginning of wisdom is to fear Jehovah,
and to know the Holy is discretion.
11 For by me your days shall be many
and years of life shall be added to you.
12* If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
and are you cynical, you will carry the consequences alone.
14 And she sits at the door of her house,
in a chair on eminences in the city,
15 To call to passersby,
those who are treading their ways,
16 “Who is a simpleton? let him come this way;
and brainless? that I may say to him
17 ‘Stolen water is sweet
and bread behind a screen is delicious’”—
18 But he does not know there are ghosts there;
her guests are in the deeps of the realm of death.
2 A wrong-doer’s hoards do no good,
but right-doing delivers from death.
4 He who does things with slack hand grows poor;
but energetic men’s hands enrich.
6 There are blessings for a right-doer’s head,
but outrage covers up wrong-doers’ mouths.
7 The memory of a right-doer is for a blessing,
but wrong-doers’ names will decay.
8 A man of wise heart takes orders,
but a man of ignorant lips makes trouble.
10 A winker gives woe,
but an outspoken reprover brings soundness.
11 An honest man’s mouth is a fountainhead of life;
but outrage covers up wrong-doers’ mouths.
12 Hate starts quarrels,
but love covers over all offenses.
13 On an intelligent man’s lips wisdom is found;
but a cudgel is the thing for a brainless man’s back.
14 Wise men keep knowledge under cover;
but an ignorant man’s mouth is ruin close at hand.
15 A rich man’s goods are his strong city;
the destitution of poor men is their ruin.
16 What a right-doer has worked on goes for life;
a wrong-doer’s produce, for sin.
18 Lying lips cover up hatred;
but he who gives out scandal is a fool.
19 In multiplicity of words offense will not be lacking;
but he who keeps his lips under restraint is acting sensibly.
21 An honest man’s lips shepherd many;
but ignoramuses die by lack of brains.
24 What a wrong-doer stands in terror of is what will come to him;
but honest men’s desire will be granted.
25* When a gale has gone past, a wrong-doer is not there;
but an honest man is permanently fixed on his foundation.
26 As is vinegar to the teeth and as is smoke to the eyes,
so is the idler to those who send him.
27 The fear of Jehovah adds days;
but wrong-doers’ years will be shortened.
28 Right-doers’ prospect is gladness;
but wrong-doers’ hope will be lost.
30 A right-doer will be unshaken forever,
but wrong-doers will not have a lodgment in the country.
31 A right-doer’s mouth bears crops of wisdom,
but a mischief-making tongue will be cut out.
11 Cheating scales are what Jehovah detests,
and a full-standard weight is what he approves.
2 Comes pretentiousness, comes dishonor;
but wisdom is on the side of modest men.
3* Straightforward men’s conscientiousness will guide them,
but faithless men will be upset by their wickedness.
4 Property does no good on a day of wrath,
but right-doing delivers from death.
5 A conscientious man’s rectitude will smooth his course,
but a wrong-doer will fall by his tendency to wrong.
6 Straightforward men’s rectitude will deliver them,
but faithless men will be caught by their greed.
8 An honest man is rescued out of distress
and a rogue goes in instead.
10 When good things happen to honest men a town jubilates,
but when rogues perish there is shouting.
11 By upright men’s blessing a town stands tall,
but by rogues’ mouths it is demolished.
12 A brainless man despises his neighbor,
but an intelligent man holds his tongue.
13 A tattler discloses confidences,
but a man of trusty spirit covers a matter up.
14 By not having political skill a people falls;
but preservation comes by plenty of advisers.
15* One comes to grievous harm because he has gone security for a stranger;
but he who hates hand-strikers has nothing to fear.
16* A gracious woman holds honor,
but a woman who hates the right things, a chair of dishonor.
Idlers will lack means,
but aggressive men will control riches.
18 A wrong-doer makes illusory revenue,
but he who sows the seed of right, real wages.
20 Men crooked in their hearts are what Jehovah detests,
and men conscientious in their courses are what he approves.
21 Hand on hand a vicious man will not be cleared,
but right-doers’ descendants escape.
22 A beautiful but wrong-headed woman
is a gold ring in a hog’s nose.
23 Honest men’s desire is pure kindness,
but rogues’ hope is truculence.
24 There is such a thing as one who scatters but has more and more;
but one who scrimps unduly is headed only for want.
25 A generous soul will get plenty of oil,
and a man who gives water freely, plenty of water for himself.
26 One who refuses to sell grain the people will curse,
but there will be blessings for the head of one who does sell it.
27** One who goes after good is going to find God’s favor,
and one who hunts for harm will have it come to him.
28 He who puts confidence in his riches, he will fall,
but right-doers will bud out like leaves.
29* One who breeds trouble for his house will have an estate of air;
and an ignoramus is slave to a man with a wise brain.
31 Here an honest man has a narrow margin of well-being—
how much more a rogue and sinner!
12 One who loves being instructed loves knowledge;
but one who hates being corrected goes stupid.
2 A kindly man will obtain favor from Jehovah,
but a schemer he will condemn.
3 Man is not set firm by wrong-doing;
but right-doers’ roots are unshaken.
4 A worthy wife is her husband’s crown,
but a worthless one is like a rot in his bones.
5 Honest men’s plans are for legitimate procedure;
rogues’ tactics are fraud.
7 Upset rogues and they are nowhere;
but honest men’s house will stand.
8 A man will be praised in proportion to his good judgment;
but a dizzy-headed man will come into contempt.
9 A nobody who owns a slave
is better than a pretentious man short of bread to eat.
10 A right-minded man knows the wants of his animal;
but vicious men’s feelings are brutal.
11 One who works his ground will have plenty of bread;
but one who runs after unpractical things lacks brains.
13 In crime of the lips is a disastrous snare,
but an honest man gets out of the pinch.
14* Out of the fruit of a man’s mouth he will have his fill of good,
and the dealing of one’s hands will come back to him.
15 A know-nothing’s course seems all right to him,
but he who listens to advice is wise.
17 Who utters reliable facts shows the right;
but a false-speaking witness, a cheat.
18* There is such a thing as a man whose jabber is like sword-stabs;
but wise men’s tongue is healing.
19 A lip of truth will stand fast forevermore,
but a tongue of falsehood for an instant.
20* There is double-dealing in the hearts of those who are cooking up harm,
but those who confer on wholesome policy have happiness.
21 No trouble will be brought upon a right-doer;
but wrong-doers are full of evil.
22 Lips of falsehood are what Jehovah detests,
but men who act truly are what he approves.
23 A shrewd man covers up knowledge,
but fools’ hearts bawl ignorance.
24 Energetic men’s hands will have control,
but slackness will come to servitude.
26* A right-doer will hunt up his pasture,
but the course wrong-doers are on will make them lose their way.
2 Out of the fruit of a man’s mouth he will eat good,
but faithless men’s appetite is for outrage.
3 He who keeps watch of his mouth is guarding his life;
he who throws his lips open comes to ruin.
5 An honest man hates a false word,
but a rogue leaves you disappointed and abashed.
6 Right-doing keeps safe a man of conscientious course,
but sin upsets wrong-doers.
7 There are such things as a man who makes himself out rich and there is nothing at all there,
and a man who makes himself out poor and there are quantities
of goods.
9 Right-doers’ light is merry,
and wrong-doers’ lamp goes out.
10* A man with nothing in him will start a squabble by self-will; but wisdom is with men who take advice.
12* An expectation long drawn out breeds sickness in the heart; but a desire that comes true is bark from a tree of life.
13** One who despises a word will have to give security;
but one who fears a commandment, he will go safe.
14 A wise man’s precept is a spring of life
for keeping away from the snares of death.
16 Any shrewd man acts by knowledge;
but a fool spreads out ignorance.
18 Poverty and dishonor, who neglects instruction;
but one who observes admonition will come to high standing.
20 Go with wise men and become wise;
but one who cultivates fools will come to harm.
22 A good man will bequeath an inheritance to children’s children,
but a sinner’s wealth is stored away for an honest man.
23* Plenty of food, poor men’s sod-breaking;
but there is such a thing as one that is swept away without justice.
24 He who holds back his stick hates his son,
but he who loves him goes in quest of it as a discipline.
25 A right-doer eats all his appetite wants,
but wrong-doers’ stomachs are scrimped.
2 He who fears Jehovah goes straightforwardly,
but he who despises him takes dodging courses.
3* In a know-nothing’s mouth there is a switch for his own back, but wise men’s lips guard them safe.
4 With no cattle there is a clean manger,
but there is plenty of produce by a horned beast’s strength.
5 A trustworthy witness will not lie,
but a false witness breathes lies.
6 A cynic hunts for wisdom and does not find any,
but knowledge is an easy thing to a man of sense.
8 A shrewd man’s wisdom consists in understanding his course;
but the stupidity of fools, in cheating.
10 A heart knows its own grief,
and a stranger does not mix in its gladness.
11 Wrong-doers’ house will be rooted out,
but upright men’s home will bloom.
12* There is such a thing as a road that lies smooth before a man but the last part of it is the recesses of death.
13 Even in laughter a heart will feel pain,
and the sequel of gladness is sorrow.
14* A man of recreant heart will have his fill out of his courses, and a good man out of his practices.
15 A simpleton believes every word,
but a shrewd man considers his steps.
16 A wise man is afraid and gets out of the way of harm,
but a fool is hotheaded and confident.
17 A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,
but a practical man bears.
19 Bad men are brought low before good men
and wrong-doers are at a right-doer’s gates.
20 A poor man is hateful even to his friend;
but there are many to love a rich man.
21* One who despises his neighbor is sinning,
but happy is he who shows favor to poverty-stricken men.
22* Practitioners of evil are on the wrong track indeed,
but practitioners of good work in friendship and loyalty.
23 By any hard work there will be a clear profit;
but lip-talk comes only to a deficit.
27 The fear of Jehovah is a spring of life
for keeping away from the snares of death.
28 In the numerousness of a people is a king’s majesty,
but in lack of folk is a potentate’s ruin.
31 One who denies a poor man his rights is insulting him who made him;
but he who is honoring him shows favor to a needy one.
32 A rogue is knocked over by his viciousness,
but an honest man finds refuge in his conscientious life.
35 A capable official will have a king’s approval,
but a worthless one will be his rage.
15 A soft answer wards off ill temper,
but a harsh word brings up anger.
3 Jehovah’s eyes are in every place,
keeping a lookout over bad men and good.
4** Calmness of tongue is bark from a tree of life,
but upsetting in it means a fracture in the spirit.
5 A know-nothing is contemptuous of his father’s training,
but one who observes admonition will grow shrewd.
6 A right-doer’s house has in it plenty of capital;
but in a wrong-doer’s produce trouble breeds.
7 Wise men’s lips sprinkle knowledge,
but fools’ hearts are not right.
8 Wrong-doers’ sacrifice is what Jehovah abominates,
but upright men’s prayer is what he accepts.
9 What Jehovah abominates is a wrong-doer’s course;
but a pursuer of right he loves.
10 A path-leaver gets hard discipline;
a hater of admonition will die.
11 The world of the dead, the land of the gone forever, are present before Jehovah;
much more the hearts of human beings.
12 A cynic does not love being admonished;
he does not go to wise men.
13 A glad heart does good to the face;
but with pain at heart comes a broken-down spirit.
14 A sensible heart hunts up knowledge,
but fools’ mouths pasture on ignorance.
15 All a doleful man’s days are bad,
but a cheery man is a banquet all the time.
16 Better a little in the fear of Jehovah
than a great store and everything going wrong in it.
17 Better a dish of greens when love is there
than a stall-fed cow and hate about it.
18 A hot-tempered man sets quarrels going,
but a patient man quiets a dispute down.
21 Foolishness is bliss to a brainless man,
but an intelligent man will go straight.
22 Frustration of plans comes by not going into conference,
but by plenty of advisers they will go through.
25 Jehovah sweeps off proud men’s house,
but sets in place a widow’s boundary-mark.
27 One who grasps at gain is breeding trouble for his house,
but one who hates gifts will live.
28 A right-doer’s heart studies to give an answer,
but wrong-doers’ mouths stream viciousness.
29 Jehovah is far from wrong-doers
but hears right-doers’ prayer.
31 An ear that can hear admonition is life;
it will harbor itself amid wise men.
32 One who neglects instruction thinks nothing of his own being; but one who listens to admonition is getting brains.
33 Fear of Jehovah is a discipline in wisdom,
and humility is antecedent to dignity.
16 Man’s are cogitations of the heart,
but from Jehovah is the answer for the tongue.
2 A man feels as if all his courses were irreproachable,
but Jehovah gauges spirits.
3 Turn your affairs over to Jehovah
and have your plans confirmed.
4 Jehovah made everything to play its part,
and even a wrong-doer for a day of disaster.
5 Any pretentious man is what Jehovah detests;
hand on hand he will not be cleared.
7 When Jehovah approves a man’s courses
he makes even his enemies live on good terms with him.
8 Better a little by right
than a large income by injustice.
9 Man’s heart plans his course
but Jehovah places his steps.
12 The doing of wrong is a thing kings abominate,
because it is by right that a throne is made firm.
13 Right-speaking lips are what a king approves,
and one who speaks straightforwardly he loves.
16 Get wisdom; how much better it is than hard gold!
and getting discretion is preferable to silver.
17 Avoidance of evil is straightforward men’s highway;
he who watches his course is guarding his life.
18 Pride goes before a crash
and a pretentious spirit before a tumble.
20 One who handles a matter cannily will have good results;
but one who trusts in Jehovah, happy he!
21 A wise-hearted man will be called a sage,
but pleasingness of lips will add to influence.
22* The insight of those who have insight is a fountain of life, but ignoramuses’ lecturing is ignorance.
23 A wise man’s heart makes his mouth skillful
and adds to the influence of his lips.
24 Pleasant words are a comb of honey,
sweetness for the palate and health for the bones.
25* There is such a thing as a road that lies smooth before a man
but the last part of it is the recesses of death.
26 A hardworking man’s appetite works for him,
because his mouth sees to his working.
27 A reprobate is a furnace of harm
and has on his lip what is like a searing fire.
28 A mischief-maker starts quarrels
and a scandalmonger alienates a bosom friend.
29 A scoundrel inveigles his friend
and makes him take a course there is no good in.
30 One who shuts his eyes tight is thinking up mischief;
one who moves his lips has got up something bad.
31 White hair is a magnificent coronet;
it will be found by a course of right-doing.
32 A patient man is better than a champion fighter,
and one who has command over his spirit than one who takes a city.
33 The lot is tossed in the fold of your mantle,
but every decision it gives is from Jehovah.
2 A capable slave will have control over a worthless son
and will share inheritance among brothers.
3 Crucible for silver and furnace for gold,
but he who assays hearts is Jehovah.
4* He is a malefactor who listens eagerly to a villainous lip;
it is falsehood that gives ear to a malignant tongue.
5 One who jeers at a poor man is insulting him who made him;
one who is glad at calamity will not be held innocent.
6 Grandchildren are old men’s coronet;
but sons’ adornment is their fathers.
9 One who is looking for love covers up an offense;
but one who harps on a matter alienates a bosom friend.
10 A rebuke sinks deeper into a man of sense
than a hundred cuts with a stick into a fool.
12 Let a man encounter a bear that has lost her cubs
but not a fool in his ignorance.
14 The beginning of a quarrel is somebody letting a trickle start,
so give up your side of the dispute before anybody gets into a rage.
15 One who declares a man right when he is wrong and one who declares
him wrong when he is right
are both of them things that Jehovah detests.
16 Why should a fool have in his hands a fee
to buy wisdom when he has no brains?
18 A brainless man strikes hands,
pledges a security before another.
20* A man with a crooked heart will come to no good,
and a man with a reversible tongue will fall into disaster.
21 To one who begets a fool it becomes a sorrow,
and a rascal’s father will not be glad.
23 A bribe is taken out of a rogue’s pocket
to warp the courses of justice.
24 Wisdom is face to face with a man of sense,
but a fool’s eyes are at earth’s end.
25 A foolish son is a vexation to his father
and a bitterness to her who gave him birth.
27* One who restrains his speech knows what is what,
and one with a cool spirit is a man of intelligence.
28 Even an ignoramus holding his tongue will be thought wise;
one who stops up his lips is sensible.
2 A fool has no fancy for good sense,
but for venting his ideas.
4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep water,
the fountain of wisdom a dashing stream.
5 It is not a good thing to allow personal favor to a wrong-doer,
giving the go-by to a right-doer in judgment.
6 A fool’s lips bring strife
and his mouth invites pounding.
7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin
and his lips a snare for his life.
8*** A scandalmonger’s words are like the seeping of water,
and they run down into the deepest recesses of the body.
9 One who is even slack in his business
is brother to a wrecker.
12 Before a crash a man’s thoughts are high,
but before honor goes humility.
14 A man’s spirit weathers his ailment,
but who is to carry the load of a broken-down spirit?
15 An intelligent man’s heart gets in knowledge
and wise men’s ears hunt up sound judgment.
16 A man’s gift makes room for him
and introduces him before big men.
17 The man who states his case first is all right,
but the other party comes in and probes him.
18 The lot puts an end to quarrels
and separates formidable opponents.
20 Out of the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will have its fill,
and of the produce of his lips he will get all he can hold.
21 Death and life are in the hands of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat the fruit of it.
22 Who has found a wife has found a good thing
and obtained favor from Jehovah.
23 A poor man talks beseechingly,
a rich man answers imperiously.
24* There are friends for company,
and there is such a thing as a loving friend that sticks tighter than
a brother.
2* When a soul has not knowledge it is not good either,
and one who is in haste with his feet goes wrong.
3 A man’s ignorance muddles his affairs
and he flies out against Jehovah.
4 Possessions add many friends;
but a poor man is parted from the friend he has.
5 A false witness will not be held guiltless
nor a lie-blower come off scot-free.
6 Many curry favor with a nobleman,
and everybody is friend to a free giver.
7* All a poor man’s brothers hate him;
much more do his friends get far away from him.
One who does much evil will achieve disaster,
and one who rebels against words will not come off safe.
8 One who invests in brains loves his life;
one who takes care for intelligence is going to find good.
9 A false witness will not be held guiltless
and a lie-blower will perish.
10 Luxury is not befitting for a fool;
much less is ruling over generals for a slave.
11* For a man to exercise patience is good business,
and to pass over offenses is an adornment to him.
12 A king’s displeasure is a growl like a two-year-old lion’s, and his approval is like dew on herbage.
13 A foolish son is a catastrophe to his father,
and a woman’s wrangles are a steadily dribbling leak in the roof.
14 A house and goods are an inheritance from parents,
but a wife who minds her business is from Jehovah.
16* One who keeps a commandment is keeping his life safe,
and one who slights his courses will come to his death.
17 One who does a kindness to a poor man is lending to Jehovah, and he will pay him back in kind.
18 Chastise your son, because there is a hope,
and do not expect to kill him.
19* A man with too hot a temper has to pay the penalty,
for if you interfere you make things still worse.
20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
in order that you may be wise in future.
21 A man has plenty of ideas in his mind,
but Jehovah’s plan is what stands.
24 An idler has buried his hand in the dish,
will not even bring it back to his mouth.
25 You give a cynic a beating, and a simpleton grows shrewder; one admonishes a man of sense, and he sees the point.
27 Beware, my son, of listening to instruction
to err from ways of knowledge.
28* An unscrupulous witness takes a cynic’s view of justice,
and wrong-doers’ mouths stream villainy.
20 Wine is cynical, beer is noisy,
and anyone who misconducts himself by it is unwise.
2 The terror of a king is a growl like a two-year-old lion’s;
he who angers him sins against his own life.
3 It is an honor to a man to keep out of contention;
but every know-nothing flies into rages.
4 An idler does not do his plowing in the fall,
asks in harvesttime, and there is nothing there.
5 A purpose in a man’s heart is water deep down,
but a man of intelligence draws it.
6 Plenty of men will each proclaim his friendship,
but who will find a man to be trusted?
7 Who conscientiously walks an honest man’s course,
happy his children after him!
8 A king sitting in the chair of judgment
winnows with his eyes everything bad.
9 Who shall say “I have cleared my heart,
I am clean from my sin”?
10 Two standards of weight, two standards of bushel,
both are things Jehovah detests.
11 Even in his play a boy shows what he is,
whether his doings are clean and straightforward.
12 Ear that hears and eye that sees,
Jehovah made them both.
13 Do not love sleep, or you will come to poverty;
open your eyes and have all the bread you can eat.
14 “Bad, bad,” says the buyer;
but he goes off, then he brags.
15 There is such a thing as gold and such a thing as plenty of coral,
but a thing that is valuable is lips of knowledge.
16 Take his garment, because he went security for a stranger; foreclose him on foreigners’ account.
17 The bread of falsehood tastes fine to a man,
but afterward his mouth gets full of gravel.
18 Ideas become effective by forethought;
make war with competent generalship.
19 A tattler discloses confidences;
do not be mixed up with a loose-tongued man.
20 Who curses his father and his mother,
his lamp will go out into utter darkness.
21 An estate that was originally got in a rush
will not have its future blessed.
22 Do not say “I will pay back” a bad turn;
set your hope on Jehovah and he will help you out.
23 Two standards of weight are a thing Jehovah detests,
and cheating scales are not a good thing.
24 The places where a man sets his foot come from Jehovah;
what does a human being understand of his course?
27 Man’s breath is Jehovah’s lamp
searching all recesses of the body.
29 Young men’s magnificence is their strength;
old men’s grandeur is white hair.
30* A whipping that draws blood is a scouring off of viciousness, and lashes the brain-cells.
21 A king’s heart is in Jehovah’s hands a set of irrigation-streams
which he turns upon what he chooses.
3 Doing the right and lawful thing
is for Jehovah preferable to a sacrifice.
5 An industrious man’s plans work out all to abundance;
but anybody who is in a hurry, all to shortage.
6* One who accumulates property by false pretenses
is chasing after a wisp of vapor into snares of death.
7 Wrong-doers’ violence drags them along
because they have not been willing to do the lawful thing.
10 A wrong-doer’s appetite craves evil;
he has no kindness for his fellowman.
11 By punishment of a cynic a simpleton gets wisdom,
but when a wise man is given good advice he sees the point.
12* A right-doer does his best by a wrong-doer’s house;
a wrecker of wrong-doers is bound to come to grief.
13 He who stops his ears against a poor man’s cry,
he too shall call out and not be answered.
15 The doing of justice is gladness to an honest man,
but dismay to villains.
16 A man who wanders off the road of reason
will come to his rest in the throng of ghosts.
17 One who loves merrymaking is a man of privations;
one does not get rich who loves wine and oil.
18** A wrong-doer pays a penalty for a right-doer,
and a faithless man is a substitute for upright men.
19 Better life in a wilderness
than a quarrelsome and irritating wife.
20* An inviting treasure finds lodgment on a wise man’s premises, but a fool gobbles it up.
22 A wise man scales a city of champions
and brings down the strength it put its confidence in.
23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue
is guarding his life from distress.
24 A haughty, presumptuous man, whose name is cynic,
acts with the recklessness of presumption.
25 An idler’s craving is the death of him
because his hands refuse to do anything.
26 All day craving goes on craving,
but a right-doer gives and does not hold back.
27 Wrong-doers’ sacrifice is an abomination,
all the more when one brings it designedly.
29 A man doing wrong shows a stiff face;
but an upright man, he sets his courses in order.
30 There is no wisdom or insight
or policy to confront Jehovah.
31 One gets ponies ready for a day of battle,
but victory is Jehovah’s affair.
22 Reputation is preferable to great wealth,
popularity to silver and gold.
2 A rich man and a poor man meet—
Jehovah is the maker of all.
3 A sagacious man sees an evil and gets under cover,
but simpletons go ahead and will pay the penalty.
4 The sequel of humility is fear of Jehovah,
riches, honor, and life.
5 There are thorns and traps in a crooked man’s road;
he who is guarding his life will keep aloof from them.
6 Give a boy the start his course requires;
even when he grows old he will not deviate from it.
7 A rich man rules over poor men,
and a borrower is slave to a lender.
8 One who sows knavery will reap trouble,
and his cudgel of wrath gives out.
9 A generous-hearted man will be blessed
because he has given bread of his to a poor man.
10 Turn out a cynic and out goes quarreling,
and dispute and dishonor come to an end.
13 An idler says “There is a lion in the street,”
“I shall be murdered right out in the squares.”
14 Stranger women’s mouths are a deep pitfall;
he to whom Jehovah is hostile will fall in.
15 Foolishness is tied into a boy’s heart;
the cudgel of discipline will drive it away.
16 A man refusing pay to a poor man with the result that he gets more—
a man giving to a rich man with the result only of destitution.
18 Because it will be delightful that you keep them within you, have them planted together on your lips.
23 For Jehovah will defend their cause
and shave down the lives of those who shave them down.
24* Do not make friends with a man who easily gets angry
nor keep company with a man given to bursts of temper,
25 For fear you should get into his ways
and come to have a trap waiting for your life.
26 Do not be among those who strike hands,
those who go security for moneylenders’ loans:
27 If you do not have enough to pay,
why should he take your bed out from under you?
28 Do not displace an old-time boundary-mark
which your fathers made.
29** If you see a man getting his work done speedily
he will find his place in the service of kings,
will not find his place in the service of nobodies.
23* When you sit down to eat a meal with a ruler
you will take good notice what it is that is before you,
2 And you will set a knife to your chin
if you are a man of appetite.
3 Do not be greedy for his tidbits;
that is bread of false pretense.
5*** Your eyes fly to it and it is not there,
because riches take wing
like a vulture flying into the sky.
6 Do not take a meal with a stingy man
nor be greedy for his tidbits,
7 For he is just like one who has a storm in his soul:
“Eat and drink,” he will say to you,
but you do not have his heart with you.
8 You will be vomiting out the mouthful you have eaten
and will have thrown away your fine words.
9 Do not talk for a fool to hear,
because he will despise the judiciousness of your words.
10 Do not displace an old-time boundary-mark
nor go into an orphan’s land,
11 Because their Guardian is strong;
it will be he that will fight out their case with you.
12 Bring instruction your heart
and words of knowledge your ears.
13 Do not let a boy go without discipline;
because you strike him with a cudgel he will not die.
14 It will be you with the cudgel that are striking him,
and you will be delivering his life from the world below.
15 My son, if your heart is wise
my own heart will be glad;
16 And my breast will exult
when your lips speak by line and level.
17 Let your heart not be emulous of sinners
but of the fear of Jehovah all day;
20 Do not be among those
who drink wine and eat meat recklessly,
21 Because a reckless drinker and eater will lose everything he has
and sleepiness gives a coat of rags.
22 Listen to your father that brought you to birth,
and do not despise your mother when she grows old.
24* Jubilant will be a right-doer’s father,
and he who has brought to birth a wise man will be glad of him.
25 Let your father and mother be glad
and her who gave you birth jubilant.
26 Give me your attention, my son,
and have an eye to my courses,
28 She too lies in ambush as a highwayman does,
and adds to the amount of disloyalty among men.
29* Who has “ouch”? who has “ow”?
who has quarrels? who has complaining?
Who has wounds for nothing?
who has black eyes?
30 Those who sit late over wine,
those who go in to investigate mixed drinks.
32 The future of it will be that it bites like a snake
and stings like a cobra.
33 Your eyes will see abnormal things
and your lips will speak absurd things,
35 “They struck me, I was not hurt;
they pounded me, I did not know it;
When shall I wake up?
I will go after it over again.”
24 Do not be emulous of bad men
nor desirous of going with them,
2 Because their hearts are studying up violence
and their lips are talking of mischief.
3 A household is built up by wisdom
and kept up by intelligence,
4 And by knowledge storerooms are filled
with all sorts of valuable and enjoyable goods.
5 A wise man is more puissant than a muscular man,
and a man of knowledge than one mighty in strength;
7 Wisdom is pearls for an ignoramus;
he does not open his mouth in the gate.
8 One who lays plans for doing harm
they call a crook.
10 If you slacken in a pinch
your strength is a pinched-up thing.
11*** Deliver those who are being taken to death
and those who are leaning over for killing; do not hold back;
12 When you say “There, we did not know this,”
will not he who gauges hearts see into it
And the keeper of your life know it?
and he will return to man the like of what he does.
13 Eat honey, son, because it is good
and virgin honey is sweet to your palate;
14 Such know wisdom to be for your soul:
if you find it there is a future
and your hope will not be dashed.
15 Do not lurk about an honest man’s quarter, rogue,
and do not raid his sleeping-place,
16 For an honest man falls seven times and gets up,
but rogues are tripped up by viciousness.
17 When your enemy falls down do not celebrate it,
and when he trips up do not let your heart exult;
18 Jehovah might see it and dislike it
and turn back his anger from him.
19 Do not get angry over bad men
nor be jealous of wrong-doers,
20 Because a wrong-doer will have no future;
wrong-doers’ lamps will go out.
21 Fear Jehovah and the king, son;
do not be mixed up with people who want a change,
22 For their calamity will come suddenly,
and who knows what bad end either set will come to?
23 These too are by the wise men.
Favoritism in judging is not a good thing.
24 On one who says to a wrong-doer “You are in the right”
Peoples will lay a curse,
folk upon folk be hostile to him;
26 One who gives a square answer kisses lips.
27 Get your work in shape outdoors
and have things ready in the field;
afterward you may build your house.
28* Do not be a witness against your fellowman groundlessly and mislead people with your lips.
29 Do not say “I will do to him the same as he did to me,
I will pay the man back the like of his action.”
30 I went past an idle man’s field
and past a brainless man’s vineyard
31 And found it all grown up to nettles,
and weeds covered its surface and its stone wall was down.
32 And I viewed it and took it to heart,
saw and drew a lesson:
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding your arms to lie abed—
34 And your poverty shall come prowling
and your want like a man under arms.
25 These too are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of King Hezekiah
of Judah compiled:
2 It is God’s glory to keep a matter veiled;
it is kings’ glory to investigate a matter.
3 Sky for height and earth for depth
and man’s heart inscrutable.
5 Dislodge a rascal before a king
and have his throne stand firm in right.
6 Do not put on airs before a king
nor stand in the place for great men,
7* Because it is better to have him say to you “Come up here”
than to have him put you down before a nobleman.
8* Do not hurry to pass out by wholesale
what your eyes have seen,
Because what will you do in the sequel
when somebody humiliates you?
9 Fight your case against your opponent,
but do not betray another man’s secret,
10* For fear one who hears should brand you with disgrace
and you should never get your reputation back.
12 A wise admonisher to a listening ear
is a gold earring and a nugget-gold pendant.
13 Like the coolness of snow in midsummer heat
is a trusty courier to those who send him,
and he puts life back into his master.
14 A man who brags of a fictitious gift
is scud and wind and no shower.
15 By patience a chieftain is cajoled;
and a soft tongue breaks bones.
16 If you find honey, eat what is enough for you,
for fear you should be glutted and throw it up.
17 Make your foot a rarity in your neighbor’s house
for fear he should have enough of you and come to hate you.
18 A man who testifies falsely against another
is a mace and a sword and a barbed arrow.
19 One who is treacherous in a pinch
is a bad tooth and a shaky foot.
and a singer of songs to a heavy heart.
Like a moth in a cloak and like rot of wood,
so grief eats away a man’s mind.
22 Because you will be shoveling live coals on his head,
and Jehovah will repay you.
24 Better living on the corner of a roof
than a home shared with a quarrelsome woman.
27* Eating honey in quantity is not a good thing,
and making grandeur a rarity is better than grandeur.
28 A man whose spirit does not have a control
is a broken city that does not have a wall.
26 As with snow in summer and with rain in harvest,
so importance is undesirable for a fool.
2* As with a sparrow in its wanderings, as with a swallow in its flight,
so with a groundless curse; it does not come in.
3 A whip for the pony, a bridle for the donkey,
and a cudgel for fools’ backs.
5 Answer a fool on his own foolish basis
for fear he should think he was wise.
8 Like one who wraps up a stone in a piece of embroidery,
such is one who gives honor to a fool.
9 A brier gets into a drunken man’s hand
and a proverb into fools’ mouths.
12 If you see a man who thinks he is wise,
there is more hope of a fool than of him.
14 The door just turns on its hinges
and an idler on his bed.
15 If an idler has stuck his hand into the dish
he is too tired for bringing it back to his mouth.
16 An idler thinks he is wiser
than seven who can give an answer that makes sense.
17** A man mixing into a dispute that does not belong to him
is a man grabbing a passing dog by the tail.
18 Like an idiot throwing
firebrands, arrows, and death,
20 Lacking wood, a fire goes out,
and without a scandalmonger quarrels calm down.
21 Charcoal for a charcoal fire and wood for a wood fire,
and a quarrelsome man to heat up a dispute.
22 A scandalmonger’s words are like the seeping of water,
and they run down into the deepest recesses of the body.
23 Glowing lips and a bad heart
are dross silver plated over earthenware.
25 When he makes his voice gracious do not trust him,
for he has seven abominations in his heart.
26 One who covers up hate with duplicity
will have his viciousness exposed in the assembly.
27 One who digs a pitfall will fall into it,
and one who rolls a stone will have it come back on him.
27 Do not boast of tomorrow,
because you do not know what a day will give birth to.
2 Let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth,
an alien and not your own lips.
4 Ill temper is ruthless and anger is unsparing,
but who stands his ground before jealousy?
6 There is more trust to be put in bruises from one who loves than in effusive kisses from one who hates.
7* A glutted appetite will trample on virgin honey;
but to a hungry appetite everything bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird strayed from its nest,
such is a man strayed from his place.
10 Do not leave your friend and your father’s friend,
and do not go into your brother’s house on your day of calamity;
a neighbor close by is better than a brother far away.
11 Be wise, son, and gladden my heart,
so that I may give an answer to the one who taunts me.
12 A sagacious man, seeing an evil, gets under cover;
simpletons, going ahead, pay the penalty.
13* Take his garment, because he went security for a stranger; foreclose him on a foreign woman’s account.
14 To the one who blesses his friend with a loud voice the first thing in the morning
it counts for a curse.
15 A dribbling leak in the roof in an all-day rain
and a wrangling woman are the same sort of thing.
18 One who takes care of a fig-tree will eat its fruit,
and one who looks after his master will be honored.
20* The realm of death and the limbo of the gone forever never get all they want,
and neither do man’s eyes.
22 If you pound up a blockhead with a pestle
among the pemmican in a mortar
his stupidity will not come off.
25 When grass is taken off and green stuff is showing
and mountain growths are brought in,
27** And there will be a good supply of goats’ milk for your food and a living for your girls.
28 Wrong-doers run with nobody chasing them,
but an honest man is as fearless as a two-year-old lion.
2 By demoralization in a country dissensions are numerous,
but a sagacious man will extinguish them.
4 Men who give up sound doctrine praise wrong-doers,
but men who are careful of sound doctrine oppose them.
5 Bad men have no insight into justice,
but those who seek Jehovah have insight into everything.
6 Better a poor man leading a conscientious life
than a man of crooked courses, he being rich.
7 One who keeps sound doctrine is a sensible son,
but one who cultivates gormandizers humiliates his father.
8 One who increases his capital by interest and bonus
is gathering for one who will do favors for poor men.
9 If one takes his ear away from hearing sound doctrine
his very prayer is an abomination.
10 One who misleads upright men into a bad course
will himself fall into his pitfall,
but conscientious men will come in for good.
11 A rich man thinks he is wise,
but an intelligent poor man will see through him.
12 When honest men are celebrating a triumph
plenty of finery is on parade;
But when rogues come to the top
people wear old clothes.
13 One who is covering up his offenses will not succeed;
but one who acknowledges them and leaves them off will meet with clemency.
14* Happy a man who is always apprehensive;
but one who stiffens up his heart will fall into disaster.
15 An unscrupulous ruler over a poor people
is a growling lion and a ravenous bear.
16** A regent who is deficient in insight will be plentiful in injustices;
but one who hates jobbery will have a long life.
17 A man outlawed for bloodshed
is to be a fugitive till he comes to the Pit; they are not to hold
him up.
18* One who walks conscientiously will be saved,
but a man of crooked courses will fall into a pitfall.
19 One who works his ground will have plenty of bread;
but one who runs after unpractical things will have plenty of poverty.
20 A man of faithful dealing will have many blessings,
but one who is in a hurry to get rich will not be held innocent.
21 Favoritism is not a good thing,
and a man may offend on account of a bit of bread.
22 A stingy man is absorbed in property
and does not know it is want that is coming to him.
23 One who reproves men will subsequently find more gratitude
than a smooth-tongued person.
25 A man of excessive appetite starts quarrels,
but one who trusts in Jehovah will be given plenty of oil.
27 He who gives to the poor man has no shortage;
but he who ignores him has plenty of curses.
28 When rogues come to the top, people take cover;
but when they perish, honest men grow plentiful.
29 A man who keeps getting reproofs and stiffens his neck
will be incurably broken all at once.
3 A man who loves wisdom gladdens his father,
but one who frequents prostitutes dissipates a property.
5 A man who talks smoothly to another
is spreading a net for his feet.
7 An honest man knows poor men’s claims;
a wrong-doer cannot see the point.
8 Men of cynical talk inflame a town,
but wise men turn anger backward.
9* A wise man has a case in court with an ignorant man
and he gets excited and laughs and nobody gets any rest.
11 A fool lets out all his temper,
but a wise man calms it by delay.
12 A ruler who is willing to listen to false talk
has rogues for all his ministers.
13 A poor man and an extortioner meet—
it is Jehovah who puts the light into the eyes of both.
14 A king who gives true judgment for poor men
shall have his throne firm forevermore.
15 Cudgel and reproof give wisdom;
but a boy running loose brings shame on his mother.
16 When wrong-doers are many, crimes are many;
but honest men will look on at their fall.
17 Discipline your son, and he will be a rest to you
and give you luxury.
18 Where there is no vision a people runs wild;
but happy is one who keeps to sound doctrine.
19 A slave is not disciplined by talk;
when he does understand, there is no result.
20 If you see a man in a hurry to speak
there is more hope for a fool than for him.
22 A peppery man starts quarrels,
and a hot-tempered man will have many misdeeds.
23 A man’s pride brings him low,
but one lowly of spirit will hold honor.
24 One who shares plunder with a thief hates his own life;
he will hear an imprecation and not tell.
25 Fearfulness of man lays a snare;
but one who is confident in Jehovah is out of reach of harm.
26 Many seek a ruler’s presence,
but a man’s rights are from Jehovah.
27 A man of foul play is an abomination to honest people,
and one who takes a straightforward course is an abomination to
a rogue.
30* The words of Agur the son of Jakeh the Massaite.
Quoth the man, “I am tired, God,
tired, God, and used up,
2 Because I am more of a brute beast than of a man
and have not human sense,
4 Who has gone up to the sky and come down?
who has taken the wind in his two hands?
Who has taken up water in a blanket?
who set up all the extremities of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
—since you know!
5 Every say of God’s is sterling;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words,
for fear he should arraign you and you turn out to have been lying.
7 I ask two things of you;
do not refuse to let me have them before I die:
8* Keep shams and lying talk far away from me;
poverty and riches give not to me,
issue me my proper ration,
9* For fear I should have all I want and turn agnostic
and say ‘Who is Jehovah?’
And for fear I should grow poor and steal
and be irreverent to the name of my God.
10 Do not tell tales of a slave to his master,
for fear he should curse you and you bear the consequences.
11 A generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother!
13 A generation with eyes O how lofty
and eyebrows raised!
14 A generation whose teeth are swords
and its fangs knives
To eat unfortunate men off the earth
and needy men out of the human race!”
15* The bloodsucker has two daughters: Give! Give!
Three they are that never get their fill,
four that never say “enough”:
16 The realm of death, and barrenness of womb;
earth, which never gets its fill of water;
and fire, which never says “enough.”
17 An eye that gibes at a father
and despises obedience to a mother
Ravens of the glen will peck
and a vulture’s young will eat.
18 Three they are that are too mysterious for me
and four that I do not know about:
19 A vulture’s road in the sky,
a snake’s road on a rock,
A ship’s road on the high sea,
and a man’s road in a wench.
20 Such is an adulterous wife’s road:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says “I did not do anything out of the way.”
21 Under three earth staggers,
and under four it cannot bear up:
22 Under a slave when he gets to be king
and a boor when he gets his stomach full of bread,
23* Under an old maid when she gets married
and a slave-girl when she gets into her mistress’s place.
24 Four they are that are earth’s little things
but are shrewdly wise:
25 The ants are a people that are not strong,
but they make their preparations in summer for their bread;
26 Dassies are a people that are not formidable,
but they place their house in the crag;
27 The grasshoppers have no king,
but they all go out on an aimed course;
28 A lizard you can catch in your hands,
but it is in royal palaces.
29 Three they are that are fine of step
and four that are fine of walk:
30 A lion, champion among beasts,
that does not turn back for any;
33 For bumping milk brings out butter,
and bumping a nose brings out blood,
and bumping anger brings out discord.
31 The words of King Lemuel of Massa, in which his mother instructed him.
2 What, my son? and what, son of my body?
and what, son of my vows?
5 For fear one should drink and forget legality
and unsettle justice in the case of any of the downtrodden.
6 Give beer to a ruined man
and wine to men with sore hearts;
7 Let one drink and forget his poverty
and no longer remember his trouble.
8* Open your mouth for a voiceless man,
to give justice in the case of any who have no firm footing in life;
9 Open your mouth, judge fairly,
and give verdicts for an unfortunate and a needy man.
11 Her husband’s heart rests confident in her,
and he has no lack of winnings.
12 She does him good and never harm
all her life long.
13 She looks up wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like a trader’s ships,
brings her bread from far away.
15 And she rises while it is still night
and gives provisions to her household
and a ration to her girls.
16 She plans for a field and gets it;
out of the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She belts her waist with strength
and puts energy into her arms.
18 She perceives that her business is good—
her lamp does not go out in the night.
19 She reaches her arms to the distaff
and her hands work the spindle.
20 She opens her hands to the unfortunate man
and reaches them out to the needy one.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household
because her household is all wearing scarlet.
22 She makes herself sleeping-rugs;
her dress is lawn and purple.
23 Her husband is a marked man in the gates
when he sits with the elders of the country.
24 She makes a cambric wrapper and sells it
and gives a belt to the merchant.
25 Strength and stateliness are her dress,
and she laughs at a future day.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom
and has friendly instructions on her tongue
28 Her sons stand up and felicitate her;
her husband, and praises her:
29 “Many have been the daughters that made notable records,
but you overtop them all.”
30 Charm is a cheat and beauty is a bubble;
a woman who fears Jehovah is the one to praise.
31 Give her fruits of her own hands
and let her own work praise her in the gates.
MARGINAL NOTES TO PROVERBS
1:11 Lit. hide for an innocent man
1:14 Lit. shall cast your lot among us
1:18 Lit. hiding for their own lives
1:19 Lit. Such are the trails of Var. Such is the future of
2:14 Codd.* mischief to a harmful man
2:18 Or reaches down to death
3:2 Lit. add for you length of days and years of aliveness and welfare
3:3 Lit. tie them round
3:18 Or It is a tree of life
3:19 Or organized the sky
3:20 Or were split down
3:23 Lit. your foot will not stub
3:24 Var. If you go to bed
3:25 Codd.* at any sudden dread
3:25 Or the storming of wrong-doers
3:34 Codd. If he treats
4:16 Lit. do not cause a stumble
4:17 Lit. feed on bread of wrong-doing and drink wine of outrages
4:18 Conj. that verse 18 belongs after verse 19
4:22 Codd. those who find (but his in next line)
4:22 Lit. and healing for
4:24 Lit. Keep crookedness of mouth aloof from you and shiftiness of lips far from you
5:2 Susp.
5:3 Lit. her palate
5:5 Lit. her steps grasp the world below
5:6 Lit. without the word how
5:9 Var. your honor to
5:9 (a cruel man) Susp.
5:23 (run into ruin) Unc., susp.
6:12 Lit. who goes crookedness of mouth
6:27 (arms) The Hebrew word means the folds of cloth the arms take up from the front of a garment
6:30 Lit. fill his soul
7:10 Conj. in a prostitute’s rig, bundled up in a muffler
7:14 Lit. There are welfare-sacrifices on me, I paid
7:22 (last part) Unc.
7:27 Codd. Her house is roads to
8:12 Var. and finds the knowledge
8:22 Lit. framed me first of his course
8:24 Var. springs heavy with water
8:27 Var. face of winds
8:31 Lit. Playing with the cosmos of his earth
9:12-13 Codd. you will carry alone. Mrs. Foolishness is
9:13 Codd. simplemindedness, and knows
10:3 Lit. let a right-doer’s appetite go hungry
10:5 (son, twice) Or boy
10:9 (will be shown up) Susp.
10:17 Or is a road to life, but he who ignores admonition misleads Conj. To live up to lessons is a road to life, but to ignore admonition puts one off the track
10:20 Conj. are waste dross
10:22 Lit. add nothing along with it
10:23 Lit. and wisdom to
10:25 Codd.* is a permanent foundation
10:29 Codd.* Jehovah’s course is a citadel to the conscientious man (var. to conscientiousness)
10:32 Var. cultivate courtesy Conj. stream courtesy
11:3 Lit. their wickedness will upset faithless men Codd. faithless men’s subversiveness will make havoc of them
11:7 Susp.; var. At wicked man’s death
11:9 Codd.* his neighbor goes wrong
11:9 Or but by right-doers’ knowledge they are rescued
11:15 Or hand-striking
11:16 Var. holds honor, and aggressive (omitting two lines)
11:17 Lit. A friendly man is doing it to himself
11:19 (Firmness) Susp.
11:27 Lit. is looking for
11:27 Or to find approval
11:29 Susp.
11:30 Or is a tree of life
12:6 (bloodshed) Susp.
12:12 Codd. A wrong-doer desires a net for
12:14 Conj. have his fill, and the dealing of
12:16 Lit. on the day
12:18 Lit. who blathers like
12:20 Or disappointment in the hearts of those who cook up
12:25 Lit. but a good thing
12:26 (first part) Susp.; codd.* A right-doer should do more scouting than another man Var.* A right-doer amounts to more than another man
12:27 Codd.* but man’s precious wealth is one who is energetic
12:28 (avenger’s) Susp.
13:1 (first part) Susp.
13:4 Lit. An idler’s appetite desires and there is nothing
13:8 Susp.
13:10 Codd.* One will only by self-will start a squabble
13:11 Var. Property out of nothing (that is, that comes out of nothing)
13:12 Or is a tree of life
13:13 Or will be ruined; but
13:13 Codd.* he will be paid
13:15 Var. course is permanent Conj. course is amid quarrel
13:17 Codd.* tumbles into
13:19 Or but keeping away from harm is
13:21 Codd. but honest men he will pay good Var. but good will overtake honest men
13:23 Susp.
14:1 Codd.* The wisest women build her house
14:3 Codd. a switch for pride or a sprout of pride
14:7 Susp.
14:9 (reprobates) Unc.
14:9 Var. Guilt mocks ignoramuses but between upright men there is goodwill
14:12 Var. is roads to death
14:14 Codd. and a good man off from him.
14:18 (last part) Unc., susp.
14:21 Var. despises poor men
14:22 Lit. Are not practitioners of evil on the wrong track? but practitioners of good are friendship and loyalty
14:24 Codd. fools’ foolishness is foolishness
14:25 Codd.* a lie-blower is fraud
14:26 Lit. his children
14:29 Lit. is abundant in intelligence
14:29 Lit. is lifting foolishness aloft
14:30 Or but jealousy is
14:33 (it) Conj. some such word as foolishness or self-conceit
14:34 Var. sin is the depletion of
15:2 (know what is what) Lit. are good at knowing Conj. drip knowledge
15:4 Or is a tree of life
15:4 Lit. is a fracture
15:19 Var. but energetic men’s
15:20 Lit. a fool of a man despises
15:23 Lit. A man has gladness by the answer of his mouth
15:24 Lit. has
15:26 Or Plans to do harm are
15:26 Var. delightful say is pure
15:30 Lit. A light of eyes gladdens
16:6 Or one steers clear of harm
16:10 Lit. is
16:11 Codd. Steelyard and just scales are Jehovah’s;
16:11 Lit. all bag-stones
16:14 Lit. is messengers
16:14 Or but a wise man
16:15 Or In the light of a king’s presence there is life, and acceptance by him is like Lit. In the shining of a king’s face
16:19 Codd.* one lowly of spirit
16:22 Lit. who have it
16:25 Var. is roads to death
17:1 Lit. strife-sacrifices The term welfare-sacrifices, much used in the historical books, may with apparent correctness be translated peace-sacrifices
17:4 (falsehood) Susp.
17:7 (grandiloquent) Unc.
17:8 Lit. favor-stone
17:11 In Hebrew this is a pun as if we said seeks rankly riotous aims and will have a rightly rancorous
17:13 Lit. bad will not budge from his house
17:17 Or and a brother
17:19 Codd. One who loves crime
17:19 Lit. hunting for a crash
17:20 Or by disaster
17:22 Or bones
17:26 Susp.
17:27 Lit. knows knowledge
18:1 Var. A separatist seeks a wish and flies
18:3 Codd.* When a wicked man
18:8 (the seeping of water) Unc.
18:8 Or but they
18:8 Lit. into the chambers of the belly
18:10 Or a tower of strength
18:11 (last half) Codd. and like a towering wall in his figment
18:13 Lit. it is ignorance and humiliation
18:19 Codd. A brother saved (var. injured) is beyond (var. like) a strong city, and quarrels are
18:24 Var. A man of many friends is going to smash (or is so for company’s sake)
19:1 Var. of crooked courses, he being rich
19:2 (first part) Unc.
19:7 (second half) Susp.; var. instead of the two lines One who chases after words, they are not (var. his they are)
19:11 Var.* A man’s hard-headedness makes him patient, and to
19:15 Lit. a slack appetite
19:16 Lit. despises his courses Conj. despises a word
19:19 Unc., susp.
19:22 Var. A man’s friendships are his income
19:22 Conj. than a hard-hearted one
19:23 Conj. one has a full stomach for the night and no dread of harm
19:26 Or One who does violence to his father and drives out his mother is a worthless and disgraceful son
19:28 Codd. swallow up villainy
19:29 Var. Judgments are ready
20:25 Lit. say “Sacred” carelessly
20:26 Codd. and runs a wheel back and forth over them
20:28 Var. friendly dealing
20:30 Lit. lashes the recesses of the body
21:2 Or every course of his
21:4 Susp.
21:6 Var. Accumulation of property by false pretenses is a winddriven vapor, snares of death
21:8 Codd. is a man and a stranger
21:9 Lit. than a quarrelsome woman and a house in partnership
21:12 Susp.
21:14 Var. quenches anger
21:18 Lit. is composition-money for a right-doer
21:18 Lit. is instead of upright men
21:20 Lit. a fool of a man
21:21 Var. life, right-doing, and honor
21:28 Unc., susp.
22:11 Unc., susp.
22:12 Conj. Jehovah has an eye to one who keeps the knowledge of him
22:17 Codd. To wise men’s words bend your ear, and hear my speech Var. Bend your ear and hear wise men’s words
22:17 Var. to my knowledge
22:19 Codd. I have today let you too know
22:20 Lit. Have I not written for you thirty
22:21 Codd. make known the right of words of truth
22:21 Codd. bring back words of truth to
22:22 Lit. crush down a downtrodden man
22:24 Lit. nor go in with
22:29 Conj. A man who gets his work done speedily will find
22:29 Conj. that either one line of this verse has been lost in copying or one line has been added in copying
23:1 Or who it is
23:4 (longheadedness) Unc., susp.
23:5 Codd.* Do your eyes fly to it?
23:5 Codd. because it does take wing
23:5 Lit. grow wings
23:18 Var. For if you keep it there is a future
23:19 Lit. Hear, you son of mine
23:23 Or not sell it, wisdom and
23:24 Var. father, who has brought to birth a wise man, and will have gladness from him
23:27 Var. Because a prostitute is
23:29 Or red eyes
23:31 Or because it glows redly, because it
23:34 Susp.
23:34 Var. and like one lying down on the top of a mast (unc.)
24:6 Var. that you are to do your war-making
24:9 Lit. is sin, and
24:11 (second half) Susp.
24:11 Or tottering for killing
24:11 Codd.* without semicolon before do
24:25 Lit. who call to account
24:28 Or needlessly
25:4 Or turn out well for
25:7-8 Var.* a nobleman whom your eyes have seen. Do not hurry to go into a lawsuit, because what will you do in the sequel when the other man
25:8 Lit. Lest what
25:10 Lit. your disrepute should not turn back
25:11 Unc.
25:11 Conj. on silver twigs
25:20 Var. Vinegar on a sore
25:20 (second proverb) Var. omits this
25:21 Var. give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty give him water to drink
25:23 The words might naturally seem to mean brings forth rain; but the fact is that the north wind in Palestine always brings clear weather; and the order of the Hebrew words, comparing the two halves of the proverb, seems to make face the subject and tongue the object in the second half
25:23 Or a hostile face
25:25 Conj. Good news from a distant country is cold water on a palate exhausted with thirst
25:26 Lit. wavering before a rogue
25:27 Codd. and investigating (var. making a rarity of) their grandeur is grandeur
26:2 Lit. does not come in
26:4, 5 (on his own foolish basis) Or as his foolishness deserves Lit. like his foolishness or in accordance with his foolishness
26:6 Var. drinks ignominy
26:10 Codd. Much gives birth to everything and hires a fool and hires transients
26:11 Or a fool repeats
26:13 (panther) Lit. lion but not the same word as in next line
26:17 Var. A man getting excited over a dispute
26:17 Var. by the ears
26:19 Lit. “Am I not joking?”
26:24 Or is setting up fraud
26:28 Lit. hates its pulverized Susp.
27:3 Lit. and the sand
27:5 Lit. unveiled criticism than veiled love
27:7 Lit. but a hungry appetite, everything
27:9 (last half) Susp.
27:13 Conj. a foreigner’s account
27:16 Unc.; susp. (the verse may originally have been something about north and south)
27:16 Lit. his right hand
27:17 Lit. is whetted on iron, and a man whets his friend’s presence
27:19 Lit. Like water, a face to a face, such is man’s heart to man
27:20 Var. has after this the words One who shuts his eyes tight is a thing Jehovah detests, and fools are bold-tongued.
27:21 Or according to his reputation Var. according to those who praise him
27:21 Var. has after this the words A wrong-doer’s heart looks for bad things, but an upright heart seeks knowledge.
27:23 Lit. Know well the faces of your sheep and goats
27:24 (crown) Susp.
27:26 Lit. will be pay for
27:27 Var. for your food, for your household’s food, and
27:27 Lit. life for your girls
28:3 Codd. A man who is poor and refuses their rights to poor men
28:3 Lit. and no bread
28:14 Or who always stands in fear
28:16 Susp.
28:16 Or a long lease of power Lit. long days
28:18 Var. will fall once for all Var. will fall (without more words)
28:26 Lit. his own heart
29:2 Var. rogues rule
29:4 Or by justice
29:6 Var. In the commission of an offense a bad man is entrapped Conj. In any step that a bad man takes there is a trap
29:6 Conj. an honest man runs merrily on
29:9 Lit. and there is no rest
29:10 Codd. and upright men hunt for Conj. and upright men look out for
29:21 (troublemaker) Unc.
30:1 Codd. of Jakeh, the boding.
30:3 Lit. know knowledge of
30:8 Lit. my bread of ration
30:9 Lit. handle the name
30:12 The Hebrew specifies the kind of worst filth
30:15 Or The vampire has
30:23 Lit. an unwanted woman when
30:31 Unc., susp.
30:32 Unc., susp.
31:3 (last half) Susp.
31:8 (who have no firm footing in life) Unc., susp.
31:10 Lit. Who will find
31:10 Lit. her price
31:27 Lit. eat bread of idleness