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11 Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay,
    so are all who amass wealth unjustly;
in midlife it will leave them,
    and at their end they will prove to be fools.

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11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
    are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
    and in the end they will prove to be fools.(A)

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20 The faithful will abound with blessings,
    but one who is in a hurry to be rich will not go unpunished.(A)

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20 A faithful person will be richly blessed,
    but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.(A)

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The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
    is a fleeting vapor and a snare[a] of death.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 21.6 Gk: Heb seekers

A fortune made by a lying tongue
    is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 21:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts vapor for those who seek death

17 But your eyes and heart
    are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.(A)

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17 “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,(A)
on shedding innocent blood(B)
    and on oppression and extortion.”(C)

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13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
    and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
    and does not give them their wages,(A)

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13 “Woe(A) to him who builds(B) his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying(C) them for their labor.

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27 Those greedy for unjust gain make trouble for their households,
    but those who hate bribes will live.(A)

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27 The greedy bring ruin to their households,
    but the one who hates bribes will live.(A)

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14 They have eyes full of adultery,[a] insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

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Footnotes

  1. 2.14 Gk adulteress; or longing for an adulteress

14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce(A) the unstable;(B) they are experts in greed(C)—an accursed brood!(D)

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11 they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.(A)

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11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households(A) by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

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On that day I will punish
    all who leap over the threshold,
who fill their master’s house
    with violence and fraud.(A)

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On that day I will punish
    all who avoid stepping on the threshold,[a](A)
who fill the temple of their gods
    with violence and deceit.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 1:9 See 1 Samuel 5:5.

The Woes of the Wicked

Shall not everyone taunt such people and, with mocking riddles, say about them,

“Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!”
    How long will you load yourselves with goods taken in pledge?(A)
Will not your own creditors suddenly rise
    and those who make you tremble wake up?
    Then you will be plunder for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
    all who survive of the peoples shall plunder you—
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who live in them.(B)

“Alas for you who get evil gain for your house,
    setting your nest on high
    to be safe from the reach of harm!”(C)
10 You have devised shame for your house
    by cutting off many peoples;
    you have forfeited your life.(D)
11 The very stones will cry out from the wall,
    and the rafter will respond from the woodwork.

12 “Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed
    and found a city on iniquity!”(E)

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“Will not all of them taunt(A) him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

“‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
    and makes himself wealthy by extortion!(B)
    How long must this go on?’
Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
    Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
    Then you will become their prey.(C)
Because you have plundered many nations,
    the peoples who are left will plunder you.(D)
For you have shed human blood;(E)
    you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.(F)

“Woe to him who builds(G) his house by unjust gain,(H)
    setting his nest(I) on high
    to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin(J) of many peoples,
    shaming(K) your own house and forfeiting your life.
11 The stones(L) of the wall will cry out,
    and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed(M)
    and establishes a town by injustice!

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Social Evils Denounced

Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and evil deeds[a] on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in their power.(A)
They covet fields and seize them,
    houses and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
    people and their inheritance.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 2.1 Cn: Heb work evil

Human Plans and God’s Plans

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
    to those who plot evil(A) on their beds!(B)
At morning’s light they carry it out
    because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields(C) and seize them,(D)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud(E) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.(F)

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13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,(A) 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. 15 As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands.(B) 16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?(C)

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13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:(A)

wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
14     or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
    there is nothing left for them to inherit.
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
    and as everyone comes, so they depart.(B)
They take nothing from their toil(C)
    that they can carry in their hands.(D)

16 This too is a grievous evil:

As everyone comes, so they depart,
    and what do they gain,
    since they toil for the wind?(E)

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22 The miser is in a hurry to get rich
    and does not know that loss is sure to come.

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22 The stingy are eager to get rich
    and are unaware that poverty awaits them.(A)

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