Proverbs

¹WINE IS a mocker, strong drink a riotous brawler; and whoever errs or reels because of it is not wise. [Prov. 23:29, 30; Isa. 28:7; Hos. 4:11.] ²The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger or angers himself against him sins against his own life. ³It is an honor for a man to cease from strife and keep aloof from it, but every fool will quarrel. ⁴The sluggard does not plow when winter sets in; therefore he begs in harvest and has nothing. ⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well, but a man of understanding draws it out. [Prov. 18:4.] ⁶Many a man proclaims his own loving-kindness and goodness, but a faithful man who can find? ⁷The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed (happy, fortunate, enviable) are his children after him. ⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows out all evil [like chaff] with his eyes. ⁹Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? [I Kings 8:46; II Chron. 6:36; Job 9:30; 14:4; Ps. 51:5; I John 1:8.] ¹⁰Diverse weights [one for buying and another for selling] and diverse measures–both of them are exceedingly offensive and abhorrent to the Lord. [Deut. 25:13; Mic. 6:10, 11.] ¹¹Even a child is known by his acts, whether [or not] what he does is pure and right. ¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye–the Lord has made both of them. ¹³Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you will be satisfied with bread. ¹⁴It is worthless, it is worthless! says the buyer; but when he goes his way, then he boasts [about his bargain]. ¹⁵There is gold, and a multitude of pearls, but the lips of knowledge are a vase of preciousness [the most precious of all]. [Job 28:12, 16-19; Prov. 3:15; 8:11.] ¹⁶[The judge tells the creditor] Take the garment of one who is security for a stranger; and hold him in pledge when he is security for foreigners. ¹⁷Food gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. ¹⁸Purposes and plans are established by counsel; and [only] with good advice make or carry on war. ¹⁹He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore associate not with him who talks too freely. [Rom. 16:17, 18.] ²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in complete darkness. ²¹An inheritance hastily gotten [by greedy, unjust means] at the beginning, in the end it will not be blessed. [Prov. 28:20; Hab. 2:6.] ²²Do not say, I will repay evil; wait [expectantly] for the Lord, and He will rescue you. [II Sam. 16:12; Rom. 12:17-19; I Thess. 5:15; I Pet. 3:9.] ²³Diverse and deceitful weights are shamefully vile and abhorrent to the Lord, and false scales are not good. ²⁴Man's steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way? ²⁵It is a snare to a man to utter a vow [of consecration] rashly and [not until] afterward inquire [whether he can fulfill it]. ²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked [from among the good] and brings the threshing wheel over them [to separate the chaff from the grain]. ²⁷The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. [I Cor. 2:11.] ²⁸Loving-kindness and mercy, truth and faithfulness, preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by [the people's] loyalty. ²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is their gray head [suggesting wisdom and experience]. ³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes [for correction] reach to the innermost parts.