Proverbs
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.