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22 A good name is more desirable than great wealth.
    Respect is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
    Yahweh is the maker of them all.
Sensible people foresee trouble and hide from it,
    but gullible people go ahead and suffer the consequence.
On the heels of humility (the fear of Yahweh)
    are riches and honor and life.

A devious person has thorns and traps ahead of him.
    Whoever guards himself will stay far away from them.
Train a child in the way he should go,
    and even when he is old he will not turn away from it.
A rich person rules poor people,
    and a borrower is a slave to a lender.
Whoever plants injustice will harvest trouble,
    and this weapon of his own fury will be destroyed.
Whoever is generous will be blessed
    because he has shared his food with the poor.

10 Drive out a mocker, and conflict will leave.
    Quarreling and abuse will stop.
11 Whoever loves a pure heart and whoever speaks graciously
    has a king as his friend.
12 Yahweh’s eyes watch over knowledge,
    but he overturns the words of a treacherous person.

13 A lazy person says,
    “There’s a lion outside!
        I’ll be murdered in the streets!”
14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit.
    The one who is cursed by Yahweh will fall into it.
15 Foolishness is firmly attached to a child’s heart.
    Spanking will remove it far from him.
16 Oppressing the poor for profit
    or giving to the rich
        certainly leads to poverty.

Listen to My Advice

17 Open your ears, and hear the words of wise people,
    and set your mind on the knowledge I give you.
18 It is pleasant if you keep them in mind
    so that they will be on the tip of your tongue,
19 so that your trust may be in Yahweh.
    Today I have made them known to you, especially to you.
20 Didn’t I write to you previously with advice and knowledge
21 in order to teach you the words of truth
    so that you can give an accurate report to those who send you?

Living with Your Neighbor

22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor
    or trample on the rights of an oppressed person at the city gate,
23 because Yahweh will plead their case
    and will take the lives of those who rob them.
24 Do not be a friend of one who has a bad temper,
    and never keep company with a hothead,
25 or you will learn his ways
    and set a trap for yourself.

26 Do not be found among those who make deals with a handshake,
    among those who guarantee other people’s loans.
27 If you have no money to pay back a loan,
    why should your bed be repossessed?
28 Do not move an ancient boundary marker
    that your ancestors set in place.
29 Do you see a person who is efficient in his work?
    He will serve kings.
    He will not serve unknown people.

22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

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

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

11 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.

15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

19 That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

21 That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:

23 For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:

25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.

27 If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.