Proverbs 20

Revised Standard Version

20 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler;
    and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
² The dread wrath of a king is like the growling of a lion;
    he who provokes him to anger forfeits his life.
³ It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife;
    but every fool will be quarreling.
⁴ The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
    he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
⁵ The purpose in a man’s mind is like deep water,
    but a man of understanding will draw it out.
⁶ Many a man proclaims his own loyalty,
    but a faithful man who can find?
⁷ A righteous man who walks in his integrity—
    blessed are his sons after him!
⁸ A king who sits on the throne of judgment
    winnows all evil with his eyes.
⁹ Who can say, “I have made my heart clean;
    I am pure from my sin”?
¹⁰ Diverse weights and diverse measures
    are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
¹¹ Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
    whether what he does is pure and right.
¹² The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
    the Lord has made them both.
¹³ Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;
    open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
¹⁴ “It is bad, it is bad,” says the buyer;
    but when he goes away, then he boasts.
¹⁵ There is gold, and abundance of costly stones;
    but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
¹⁶ Take a man’s garment when he has given surety for a stranger,
    and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners.
¹⁷ Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
    but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
¹⁸ Plans are established by counsel;
    by wise guidance wage war.
¹⁹ He who goes about gossiping reveals secrets;
    therefore do not associate with one who speaks foolishly.
²⁰ If one curses his father or his mother,
    his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.
²¹ An inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning
    will in the end not be blessed.
²² Do not say, “I will repay evil”;
    wait for the Lord, and he will help you.
²³ Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord,
    and false scales are not good.
²⁴ A man’s steps are ordered by the Lord;
    how then can man understand his way?
²⁵ It is a snare for a man to say rashly, “It is holy,”
    and to reflect only after making his vows.
²⁶ A wise king winnows the wicked,
    and drives the wheel over them.
²⁷ The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
    searching all his innermost parts.
²⁸ Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king,
    and his throne is upheld by righteousness.^[a]
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
    but the beauty of old men is their gray hair.
³⁰ Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
    strokes make clean the innermost parts.