Proverbs 20  New King James Version

² The ^[a]wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion;
Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life.

^3 (B)It is honorable for a man to stop striving,
Since any fool can start a quarrel.

^4 (C)The lazy man will not plow because of winter;
^(D)He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

⁵ Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,
But a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶ Most men will proclaim each his own ^[b]goodness,
But who can find a faithful man?

^7 (E)The righteous man walks in his integrity;
^(F)His children are blessed after him.

⁸ A king who sits on the throne of judgment
Scatters all evil with his eyes.

^9 (G)Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin”?

^10 (H)Diverse weights and diverse measures,
They are both alike, an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹ Even a child is ^(I)known by his deeds,
Whether what he does is pure and right.

^12 (J)The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
The Lord has made them both.

^13 (K)Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty;
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴ “It is ^[c]good for nothing,” cries the buyer;
But when he has gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵ There is gold and a multitude of rubies,
But ^(L)the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

^16 (M)Take the garment of one who is surety for a stranger,
And hold it as a pledge when it is for a seductress.

^17 (N)Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

^18 (O)Plans are established by counsel;
^(P)By wise counsel wage war.

^19 (Q)He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets;
Therefore do not associate with one ^(R)who flatters with his lips.

^20 (S)Whoever curses his father or his mother,
^(T)His lamp will be put out in deep darkness.

^21 (U)An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning
^(V)Will not be blessed at the end.

^22 (W)Do not say, “I will ^[d]recompense evil”;
^(X)Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.

²³ Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord,
And dishonest scales are not good.

²⁴ A man’s steps are of the Lord;
How then can a man understand his own way?

²⁵ It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy,
And afterward to reconsider his vows.

^26 (Y)A wise king sifts out the wicked,
And brings the threshing wheel over them.

^27 (Z)The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the ^[e]inner depths of his heart.

^28 (AA)Mercy and truth preserve the king,
And by ^[f]lovingkindness he upholds his throne.

²⁹ The glory of young men is their strength,
And ^(AB)the splendor of old men is their gray head.

³⁰ Blows that hurt cleanse away evil,
As do stripes the ^[g]inner depths of the heart.