Books of The Bible / Book of Proverbs
1 Fame is preferable to great wealth, favour, to silver and gold.
2 Rich and poor rub shoulders, Yahweh has made them both.
3 The discreet sees danger and takes shelter, simpletons go ahead and pay the penalty.
4 The reward of humility is the fear of Yahweh, and riches, honour and life.
5 Thorns and snares line the path of the wilful, whoever values life will stay at a distance.
6 Give a lad a training suitable to his character and, even when old, he will not go back on it.
7 The rich lords it over the poor, the borrower is the lender’s slave.
8 Whoever sows injustice reaps disaster, and the rod of such anger will disappear.
9 A kindly eye will earn a blessing, such a person shares out food with the poor.
10 Expel the mocker and strife goes too, law-suits and dislike die down.
11 Whoever loves the pure of heart and is gracious of speech has the king for a friend.
12 Yahweh’s eyes protect knowledge, but he confounds deceitful speeches.
13 ‘There is a lion outside,’ says the idler, ‘I shall be killed in the street!’
14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit, into it falls the man whom Yahweh rebukes.
15 Folly is anchored in the heart of a youth, the whip of instruction will rid him of it.
16 Harsh treatment enriches the poor, but a gift impoverishes the rich.
17 Give ear, listen to the sayings of the sages, and apply your heart to what I know,
18 for it will be a delight to keep them deep within you to have them all ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in Yahweh, it is you whom I wish to instruct today.
20 Have I not written for you thirty chapters of advice and knowledge,
21 to make you know the certainty of true sayings, so that you can return with sound answers to those who sent you?
22 Do not despoil the weak, for he is weak, and do not oppress the poor at the gate,
23 for Yahweh takes up their cause, and extorts the life of their extortioners.
24 Do not make friends with one who gives way to anger, make no one quick-tempered a companion of yours,
25 for fear you learn such behaviour and in it find a snare for yourself.
26 Do not be one of those who go guarantor, who go surety for debts:
27 if you have no means of paying your bed will be taken from under you.
28 Do not displace the ancient boundary-stone set by your ancestors.
29 You see someone alert at his business? His aim will be to serve kings; not for him the service of the obscure.