Beginning

22 Better is a good name, than many riches; for good grace is above silver and gold (for a good reputation is more valuable than silver and gold).

² A rich man and a poor man met themselves; the Lord is [the] worker of ever either. (A rich person and a poor person met together; the Lord is the Maker of both of them.)

³ A fell man seeth evil, and hideth himself; and an innocent man passed, and he was tormented by harm. (A clever person seeth evil coming, and hideth himself; but a gullible person passed forth, or kept going, and so he was tormented by harm.)

⁴ The end of temperance is the dread of the Lord; riches, and glory, and life. (The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord/is reverence for the Lord; along with riches, and glory, and life.)

⁵ Armours and swords be in the way of a wayward man; but the keeper of his soul goeth away far from those. (Arms, or weapons, and swords be on the way of the wayward; but he who keepeth his life safe goeth far away from them.)

⁶ It is a proverb, A young waxing man after his way, and when he hath waxed eld, he shall not go away from it. (Here is a proverb: If a young person is brought up in the right way, when he hath grown older, he shall not go away from it.)

⁷ A rich man commandeth to poor men; and he that taketh borrowing, is servant of the lender.

⁸ He that soweth wickedness shall reap evils; and the rod of his ire shall be ended.

⁹ He that is ready to (give) mercy shall be blessed; for (out) of his loaves he gave (some) to a poor man.

¹⁰ Cast thou out a scorner, and strife shall go out with him; and causes and despisings shall cease.

¹¹ He that loveth the cleanness of heart, shall have the king (for) a friend, for the grace of his lips (for the eloquence of his words).

¹² The eyes of the Lord keep knowing; and the words of a wicked man be deceived. (The eyes of the Lord keep knowledge safe; but the words of the wicked be deceitful.)

¹³ A slow man shall say (A lazy person shall say), A lion is withoutforth; I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.

¹⁴ The mouth of an alien woman is a deep ditch; he to whom the Lord is wroth shall fall into it. (The mouth of a woman whom thou hast been intimate with, but who is not thy wife, is a deep ditch; he to whom the Lord is angry with, shall fall into it.)

¹⁵ Folly is bound together in the heart of a child; and a rod of chastising shall drive it away. (Foolishness is bound up in a child’s heart, but the rod of discipline shall drive it away.)

¹⁶ He that falsely challengeth a poor man, to increase his own riches (He who oppresseth the poor, to increase his own riches), shall give to a richer man, and he shall be needy.

¹⁷ My son, bow down thine ear, and hear thou the words of wise men; but set thou the heart to my teaching. (My son, bow down thy ear, and listen thou to the words of the wise; yea, set thou thy heart unto my teaching, or my instruction.)

¹⁸ That shall be fair to thee, when thou hast kept it in thine heart, and it shall flow again in thy lips. (It shall please thee when thou hast kept it in thy heart, and it shall flow freely from thy lips.)

¹⁹ That thy trust be in the Lord; wherefore and I have showed it to thee today. (So that thy trust be in the Lord; and so I have showed it to thee today.)

²⁰ Lo! I have described it in three manners^[a]1, in thoughts and knowing,

²¹ (so) that I should show to thee the firmness and speeches of truth; to answer (out) of these things to them that sent (unto) thee.

²² Do thou not violence to a poor man, for he is poor; neither defoul thou a needy man in the gate. (Do not thou do violence to a poor person, because he is poor; and do not take advantage of a needy person in court/at the city gates.)

²³ For the Lord shall deem his cause, and he shall torment them that tormented his soul. (For the Lord shall judge his case, and he shall torment those who tormented him.)

²⁴ Do not thou be (a) friend to a wrathful man, neither go thou with a wrathful man;

²⁵ lest peradventure thou learn his ways, and take cause of stumbling to thy soul. (lest perhaps thou learn his ways, and bring a cause of stumbling unto thy soul.)

²⁶ Do not thou be with them that fasten, or bind, their hands, and that proffer themselves to be borrows for debts; (Do not thou be with those who bind their hands, and who offer themselves as pledges for other people’s debts;)

²⁷ for if he hath not whereof he shall restore, what of cause is, that thou (should) take away (the) covering from (off) thy bed? (for if thou hath not whereof to pay, then they shall even take away thy bed from under thee.)

²⁸ Go thou not over the eld marks, (or the boundary stones,) which thy fathers have set.

²⁹ Thou hast seen a man smart in his work; he shall stand before kings, and he shall not be before unnoble men.

23 When thou sittest to eat with the prince, perceive thou diligently what things be set before thy face,

² and set thou a coulter in thy throat. If nevertheless thou hast power on thy soul, (and set thou a knife at thy own throat, if thou hast not power over thy self.)

³ desire thou not of his meats, in whom is the bread of lying. (Do not thou desire any of his food, for he is not what he seemeth to be/for this is not what it seemeth to be.)

⁴ Do not thou travail to be made rich, but set thou measure to thy prudence. (Do not thou labour to be made rich, but set thou a limit to what thou can achieve.)

⁵ Raise not thine eyes to riches, which thou mayest not have; for those shall make to themselves pens, as of an eagle, and they shall fly into heaven. (Raise not up thine eyes to riches, which thou cannot hold onto; for they shall make wings for themselves, like an eagle, and they shall fly away into the heavens.)

⁶ Eat thou not with an envious man, and desire thou not his meats; (Do not thou eat with the envious, and do not thou desire his food;)

⁷ for at the likeness of a false diviner, and of a conjecturer, that is, (an) expounder of dreams, he guesseth that, that he knoweth not. He shall say to thee, Eat thou and drink; and his soul is not with thee (but his heart is not for thee/but his heart is not with thee).

⁸ Thou shalt spew out the meat, which thou hast eaten; and thou shalt lose thy fair words (and thy flattery shall have been wasted).

⁹ Speak thou not in the ears of unwise men (Speak thou not in the ears of the unwise); for they shall despise the teaching of thy speech.

¹⁰ Touch thou not the terms, (or the boundary stones, of the property) of little children; and enter thou not into the field of fatherless and motherless children.

¹¹ For the neighbour of them is strong, and he shall deem their cause against thee. (For their Friend is strong, and he shall judge their case against thee.)

¹² Thine heart enter to teaching, and thine ears to the words of knowing. (Let thy heart draw close to instruction, and thy ears to words of knowledge.)

¹³ Do not thou withdraw chastising, (or discipline,) from a child; for though thou smitest him with a rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴ Thou shalt smite him with a rod, and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. (Thou shalt strike him with a rod, and so thou shalt rescue his soul from Sheol, or from the land of the dead/from hell itself.)

¹⁵ My son, if thy soul is wise, mine heart shall have joy with thee; (My son, if thou be wise, my heart shall have joy over thee;)

¹⁶ and my reins shall make full out joy, when thy lips speak rightful thing(s).

¹⁷ (Let) Thine heart follow not sinners; but be thou in the dread of the Lord all day (but be thou in the fear of the Lord/with reverence for the Lord all day long).

¹⁸ For thou shalt have hope at the last, and thine abiding shall not be done away.

¹⁹ My son, hear thou, and be wise, and (ad)dress thy soul in the way (and direct thy soul to the right way).

²⁰ Do not thou be in the feasts of drinkers, neither in the oft eatings of them, that bring together fleshes to eat. (Do not thou be at the feasts of drinkers, nor at the oft eatings of those who bring much meat to eat.)

²¹ For men giving attention to drinks, and giving morsels together, shall be wasted, and napping shall be clothed with clothes rent. (For those giving attention to drinks, and giving morsels to each other, shall be wasted, or destroyed, and their napping shall eventually clothe them with torn clothes.)

²² Hear thy father, that begat thee (Listen to thy father, who begat thee); and despise not thy mother, when she is eld.

²³ Buy thou truth, and do not thou sell (off) wisdom, and doctrine, and understanding.

²⁴ The father of a just man joyeth full out with joy; he that begat a wise man, shall be glad in him. (The father of a righteous person rejoiceth with great joy; he who begat someone who is wise, shall take much pleasure, or pride, in him.)

²⁵ Thy father and thy mother have joy, and he that begat thee, make full out joy. (So let thy father and thy mother have joy over thee, and let she who bare thee, rejoice.)

²⁶ My son, give thine heart to me, and thine eyes keep my ways.

²⁷ For a whore is a deep ditch, and an alien woman, is a strait pit. (For a whore is a deep ditch, and a woman whom thou hath been intimate with, but who is not thy wife, is a narrow pit.)

²⁸ She setteth ambush in the way, as a thief (She setteth ambush on the way, like a thief); and shall add despisers in men, that is, (she) shall multiply (the) despisers of God among men.

²⁹ To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? to whom be chidings? (to whom be arguments?) to whom be ditches? to whom be wounds without cause? to whom is putting out of eyes?

³⁰ Whether not to them, that dwell in wine, and study to drink [up] all of (the) cups? (Whether not to those, who live in wine, and endeavour to drink up every last drop from the cup?)

³¹ Behold thou not [the] wine (Look thou not upon the wine), when it sparkleth, when the colour thereof shineth in a glass cup. It entereth sweetly,

³² but at the last it shall bite as an adder, and as a cockatrice it shall shed abroad venoms. (but in the end, it shall bite like a serpent, and it shall sting, with its venom, like a cockatrice.)

³³ Thine eyes shall see strange, (or unknown,) women, and thy heart shall speak wayward things.

³⁴ And thou shalt be as a man sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a governor asleeped, when the steer(ing), either the instrument of governance, is lost.

³⁵ And thou shalt say, They beat me, but I had not sorrow; they drew me, and I feeled not; when shall I wake out, and I shall find wines again? (when shall I wake up, and I can drink more wine again?)