10 For wisdom will enter your heart,(A)
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.(B)

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10 for wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul.[a]
11 Discretion will watch over you;
    understanding will protect you,

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:10 Or “inner self”

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.

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20 So that you will walk on the road of those who are good,
    and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.

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14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
    or walk in the way of evildoers.(A)
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
    turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;(B)
    they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.(C)

18 The path of the righteous(D) is like the morning sun,(E)
    shining ever brighter till the full light of day.(F)
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;(G)
    they do not know what makes them stumble.(H)

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14 In the path of the wicked do not go;
    do not walk in the way of those who do evil.
15 Avoid it; do not transgress it;
    turn away from it and pass by.
16 For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong,
    and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.
17 For they ate the bread of wickedness,
    and they drank the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the light of dawn,
    leading and shining until the day is full.[a]
19 The way of the wicked ones is like deep darkness;
    they do not know what they stumble over.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 4:18 Literally “is correct”

20 Walk with the wise and become wise,
    for a companion of fools suffers harm.(A)

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20 Walk with the wise and be wise,
    but as for the companion of fools, he will suffer harm.

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28 A perverse person stirs up conflict,(A)
    and a gossip separates close friends.(B)

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28 A person of perversity will spread dissent,
    and he who whispers separates a close friend.

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12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
    than a fool bent on folly.(A)

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12 May a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring
    and not a fool in his folly.

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17 A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for a time of adversity.(A)

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17 The friend loves at all times[a],
    but a brother is born for adversity.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:17 Hebrew “time”

24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.(A)

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24 A man of many friends will come to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

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Wealth attracts many friends,
    but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.(A)

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Wealth adds many friends,
    but the poor will be left by his friends.

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Many curry favor with a ruler,(A)
    and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.(B)

The poor are shunned by all their relatives—
    how much more do their friends avoid them!(C)
Though the poor pursue them with pleading,
    they are nowhere to be found.[a](D)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

Many will seek favor before the generous,
    and everyone is the friend of a man of gifts.[a]
All the brothers of the poor, if they hate him,
    how much more will his friends keep away from him.
    He pursues them with words, and they are gone.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:6 Hebrew “gift”
  2. Proverbs 19:7 Or “when he pursues words and not them”

19 A gossip betrays a confidence;(A)
    so avoid anyone who talks too much.

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19 He reveals a secret, he who walks about with gossip,
    and do not associate with a babbler’s lips.

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Saying 3

24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,
    do not associate with one easily angered,
25 or you may learn their ways
    and get yourself ensnared.(A)

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24 Do not befriend an owner[a] of anger,[b]
    and with a man of wrath you shall not associate;
25 lest you learn his way
    and become entangled in a snare to yourself.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:24 Or “master”
  2. Proverbs 22:24 Literally “nostril”
  3. Proverbs 22:25 Or “soul,” or “inner self”