29 A patient person shows great understanding,(A)
but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.

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29 Being slow to get angry compares to great understanding
    as being quick-tempered compares to stupidity.

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32 Patience is better than power,
and controlling one’s emotions,[a] than capturing a city.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 16:32 Lit and ruling over one’s spirit

32 Whoever controls his temper is better than a warrior,
    and anyone who has control of his spirit is better
        than someone who captures a city.

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11 A person’s insight gives him patience,(A)
and his virtue is to overlook an offense.(B)

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11 A person’s discretion makes him slow to anger,
    and it is to his credit that he ignores an offence.

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23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what[a] is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big[b] appetite;
don’t desire his choice food,(A)
for that food is deceptive.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:1 Or who
  2. 23:2 Lit you are the master of an

Things to Avoid in Life

23 Whenever you sit down to dine with a ruler,
carefully think about what is before you.
Put a knife to your own throat,
    if you have a big appetite.[a]
Don’t crave his delicacies,
    because the meal is deceptive.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:2 Lit. a master of an appetite

28 A person who does not control his temper(A)
is like a city whose wall is broken down.(B)

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28 Like a city with breached walls
    is a man without self-control.

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29 One who becomes stiff-necked,
after many reprimands
will be shattered instantly—
beyond recovery.(A)

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Advice on Life and Justice

29 After many rebukes, the stiff-necked man
will be broken incurably, without any warning.

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