Proverbs

¹⁶Of what use is money in the hand of a [self-confident] fool to buy skillful and godly Wisdom–when he has no understanding or heart for it? ¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity. ¹⁸A man void of good sense gives a pledge and becomes security for another in the presence of his neighbor. ¹⁹He who loves strife and is quarrelsome loves transgression and involves himself in guilt; he who raises high his gateway and is boastful and arrogant invites destruction. ²⁰He who has a wayward and crooked mind finds no good, and he who has a willful and contrary tongue will fall into calamity. [James 3:8.] ²¹He who becomes the parent of a [self-confident] fool does it to his sorrow, and the father of [an empty-headed] fool has no joy [in him]. ²²A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. [Prov. 12:25; 15:13, 15.]