Beginning
24 Don’t envy godless men; don’t even enjoy their company. 2 For they spend their days plotting violence and cheating.
3-4 Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.
5 A wise man is mightier than a strong man. Wisdom is mightier than strength.
6 Don’t go to war without wise guidance; there is safety in many counselors.
7 Wisdom is too much for a rebel. He’ll not be chosen as a counselor!
8 To plan evil is as wrong as doing it.
9 The rebel’s schemes are sinful, and the mocker is the scourge of all mankind.
10 You are a poor specimen if you can’t stand the pressure of adversity.
11-12 Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die. Don’t try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God, who knows all hearts, knows yours, and he knows you knew! And he will reward everyone according to his deeds.
13-14 My son, honey whets the appetite and so does wisdom! When you enjoy becoming wise, there is hope for you! A bright future lies ahead!
15-16 O evil man, leave the upright man alone and quit trying to cheat him out of his rights. Don’t you know that this good man, though you trip him up seven times, will each time rise again? But one calamity is enough to lay you low.
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy meets trouble. Let there be no gladness when he falls— 18 for the Lord may be displeased with you and stop punishing him!
19-20 Don’t envy the wicked. Don’t covet his riches. For the evil man has no future; his light will be snuffed out.
21-22 My son, watch your step before the Lord and the king, and don’t associate with radicals. For you will go down with them to sudden disaster, and who knows where it all will end?
23 It is wrong to sentence the poor and let the rich go free. 24 He who says to the wicked, “You are innocent,” shall be cursed by many people of many nations; 25 but blessings shall be showered on those who rebuke sin fearlessly.
26 It is an honor to receive a frank reply.
27 Develop your business first before building your house.
28-29 Don’t testify spitefully against an innocent neighbor. Why lie about him? Don’t say, “Now I can pay him back for all his meanness to me!”
30-31 I walked by the field of a certain lazy fellow and saw that it was overgrown with thorns; it was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. 32-33 Then, as I looked, I learned this lesson:
“A little extra sleep,
A little more slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest”
34 means that poverty will break in upon you suddenly like a robber and violently like a bandit.
25 These proverbs of Solomon[a] were discovered and copied by the aides of King Hezekiah of Judah:
2-3 It is God’s privilege to conceal things, and the king’s privilege to discover and invent. You cannot understand the height of heaven, the size of the earth, or all that goes on in the king’s mind!
4-5 When you remove dross from silver, you have sterling ready for the silversmith. When you remove corrupt men from the king’s court, his reign will be just and fair.
6-7 Don’t demand an audience with the king as though you were some powerful prince. It is better to wait for an invitation rather than to be sent back to the end of the line, publicly disgraced!
8-10 Don’t be hotheaded and rush to court! You may start something you can’t finish and go down before your neighbor in shameful defeat. So discuss the matter with him privately. Don’t tell anyone else, lest he accuse you of slander and you can’t withdraw what you said.
11 Timely advice is as lovely as gold apples in a silver basket.
12 It is a badge of honor to accept valid criticism.
13 A faithful employee is as refreshing as a cool day[b] in the hot summertime.
14 One who doesn’t give the gift he promised is like a cloud blowing over a desert without dropping any rain.
15 Be patient and you will finally win, for a soft tongue can break hard bones.
16 Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much of it, or it will make you sick!
17 Don’t visit your neighbor too often, or you will outwear your welcome!
18 Telling lies about someone is as harmful as hitting him with an ax, or wounding him with a sword, or shooting him with a sharp arrow.
19 Putting confidence in an unreliable man is like chewing with a sore tooth, or trying to run on a broken foot.
20 Being happy-go-lucky around a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing his jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in his wounds.[c]
21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him food! If he is thirsty, give him something to drink! This will make him feel ashamed of himself, and God will reward you.
23 As surely as a wind from the north brings cold,[d] just as surely a retort causes anger!
24 It is better to live in a corner of an attic than in a beautiful home with a cranky, quarrelsome woman.
25 Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.
26 If a godly man compromises with the wicked, it is like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.
27 Just as it is harmful to eat too much honey, so also it is bad for men to think about all the honors they deserve!
28 A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.
26 Honor doesn’t go with fools any more than snow with summertime or rain with harvesttime!
2 An undeserved curse has no effect. Its intended victim will be no more harmed by it than by a sparrow or swallow flitting through the sky.
3 Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a rebel with a rod to his back!
4-5 When arguing with a rebel, don’t use foolish arguments as he does, or you will become as foolish as he is! Prick his conceit with silly replies![e]
6 To trust a rebel to convey a message is as foolish as cutting off your feet and drinking poison!
7 In the mouth of a fool a proverb becomes as useless as a paralyzed leg.
8 Honoring a rebel will backfire like a stone tied to a slingshot!
9 A rebel will misapply an illustration so that its point will no more be felt than a thorn in the hand of a drunkard.
10 The master may get better work from an untrained apprentice than from a skilled rebel!
11 As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
12 There is one thing worse than a fool, and that is a man who is conceited.
13 The lazy man won’t go out and work. “There might be a lion outside!” he says. 14 He sticks to his bed like a door to its hinges! 15 He is too tired even to lift his food from his dish to his mouth! 16 Yet in his own opinion he is smarter than seven wise men.
17 Yanking a dog’s ears is no more foolish than interfering in an argument that isn’t any of your business.
18-19 A man who is caught lying to his neighbor and says, “I was just fooling,” is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death!
20 Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and tensions disappear when gossip stops.
21 A quarrelsome man starts fights as easily as a match sets fire to paper.[f]
22 Gossip is a dainty morsel eaten with great relish.
23 Pretty words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a common clay pot.
24-26 A man with hate in his heart may sound pleasant enough, but don’t believe him; for he is cursing you in his heart. Though he pretends to be so kind, his hatred will finally come to light for all to see.
27 The man who sets a trap for others will get caught in it himself. Roll a boulder down on someone, and it will roll back and crush you.
28 Flattery is a form of hatred and wounds cruelly.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.