Proverbs 24:23-34

New International Reader's Version

Taking sides in court is not good.
²⁴     A curse will fall on those who say the guilty are not guilty.
Nations will ask for bad things to happen to them.
    People will speak against them.
²⁵ But it will go well with those who sentence guilty people.
    Rich blessings will come to them.

²⁶ An honest answer
    is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷ Put your outdoor work in order.
    Get your fields ready.
    After that, build your house.

²⁸ Don’t be a witness against your neighbor for no reason.
    Would you use your lips to tell lies?
²⁹ Don’t say, “I’ll do to them what they have done to me.
    I’ll get even with them for what they did.”

³⁰ I went past the field of someone who didn’t want to work.
    I went past the vineyard of someone who didn’t have any sense.
³¹ Thorns had grown up everywhere.
    The ground was covered with weeds.
    The stone wall had fallen down.
³² I applied my heart to what I observed.
    I learned a lesson from what I saw.
³³ You might sleep a little or take a little nap.
    You might even fold your hands and rest.
³⁴ Then you would be poor, as if someone had robbed you.
    You would have little, as if someone had stolen from you.