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A Good Name

¹ A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.

² The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is Maker of them all.

³ The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.

⁴ The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life.

⁵ Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷ The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

⁸ He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹ A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰ Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease.

¹¹ He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.

¹² The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless.

¹³ The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

¹⁴ The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

¹⁶ Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, or giving gifts to the rich, will surely lead to poverty.

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

¹⁷ Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge—¹⁸ for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.¹⁹ So that your trust may be in the LORD, I instruct you today—yes, you.²⁰ Have I not written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,²¹ to show you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to those who sent you?

Saying 2

²² Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,²³ for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.

Saying 3

²⁴ Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,²⁵ or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Saying 4

²⁶ Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.²⁷ If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

Saying 5

²⁸ Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.

Saying 6

²⁹ Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.