Proverbs 24:23-34

New Century Version

It is not good to take sides when you are the judge.
²⁴ Don’t tell the wicked that they are innocent;
    people will curse you, and nations will hate you.
²⁵ But things will go well if you punish the guilty,
    and you will receive rich blessings.

²⁶ An honest answer is as pleasing
    as a kiss on the lips.

²⁷ First, finish your outside work
    and prepare your fields.
    After that, you can build your house.

²⁸ Don’t testify against your neighbor for no good reason.
    Don’t say things that are false.
²⁹ Don’t say, “I’ll get even;
    I’ll do to him what he did to me.”

³⁰ I passed by a lazy person’s field
    and by the vineyard of someone with no sense.
³¹ Thorns had grown up everywhere.
    The ground was covered with weeds,
    and the stone walls had fallen down.
³² I thought about what I had seen;
    I learned this lesson from what I saw.
³³ You sleep a little; you take a nap.
    You fold your hands and lie down to rest.
³⁴ Soon you will be as poor as if you had been robbed;
    you will have as little as if you had been held up.