¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will fill you with joy.
¹¹ Wise choices will watch over you.
    Understanding will keep you safe.

²⁰ So follow the steps of the good,
    and stay on the paths of the righteous.

¹⁴ Don’t do as the wicked do,
    and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
¹⁵ Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
    Turn away and keep moving.
¹⁶ For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
    They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
¹⁷ They eat the food of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence!

¹⁸ The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
    which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
    They have no idea what they are stumbling over.

²⁰ Walk with the wise and become wise;
    associate with fools and get in trouble.

²⁸ A troublemaker plants seeds of strife;
    gossip separates the best of friends.

¹² It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
    than to confront a fool caught in foolishness.

¹⁷ A friend is always loyal,
    and a brother is born to help in time of need.

²⁴ There are “friends” who destroy each other,
    but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

⁴ Wealth makes many “friends”;
    poverty drives them all away.

⁶ Many seek favors from a ruler;
    everyone is the friend of a person who gives gifts!

⁷ The relatives of the poor despise them;
    how much more will their friends avoid them!
Though the poor plead with them,
    their friends are gone.