Chronological
22 It is better to receive honour from people than to be very rich.
If people respect you, that is better than silver or gold.
2 This is true about rich people and poor people:
The Lord created them all.
3 A careful person can see danger and he will hide himself.
But a silly person never stops, and he walks into trouble.
4 You should be humble. You should respect and obey the Lord.
Then you will receive riches, honour and a long life.
5 Wicked people go through a lot of trouble,
like thorn bushes and traps in their way.
So be careful to keep far away from them.
6 If you teach children the right way to live,
they will not forget it when they are older.
7 Rich people have authority over poor people.
People who borrow money have to serve those who lend it to them.
8 If you plant evil things,
your harvest will be trouble.
If you are angry and you hurt people,
it will never help you.
9 If you are kind to poor people and you share your food with them,
God will bless you.
10 If someone laughs at what is right, send him away.
Then there will be no more arguments, quarrels and insults.
11 If you live in a pure way, and you speak kind words,
you will have the king as your friend.
12 The Lord watches over truth, to keep it safe.
But when people tell lies, he makes them useless.
13 A lazy person stays in his house.
He says, ‘There is a lion outside in the street!
If I go out, it will kill me!’
14 The mouth of an adulteress is like a deep hole.
If you make the Lord angry, you will fall into it!
15 Children love to do foolish things.
To stop them, you must warn and punish them.
16 Someone may be cruel to poor people to make himself rich.
Someone else may give gifts to rich people to make them his friends.
But both those people will become poor in the end.
30 wise thoughts
17 Listen carefully. I will teach you what wise people have said. Think about the things that I am teaching you. 18 If you remember these things, you will be happy. Tell them to other people. 19 I want you to trust in the Lord. So I will tell you these things today. They are for you.
20 I have written down 30 wise thoughts for you.[a] They will teach you what is right, so that you know how to live well. 21 You can trust these words because they are true. Then you can give a good answer to the people who sent you to me.
22 1. Do not cheat poor people just because they are poor. Do not attack helpless people in court.
23 The Lord will speak on their behalf. He will punish anyone who cheats them.
24 2. Do not become a friend of angry people. Keep away from them. 25 You might become angry, like them. Then you would spoil your whole life.
26 3. Do not promise to pay someone else's debt. 27 If you cannot pay, they will take away your bed, even while you are sleeping on it!
28 4. Do not move any stone that shows the border of your land. Your ancestors put it there to stop arguments.
29 5. A worker with special skills may work for a king. He will no longer have to work for ordinary people.
More wise thoughts
23 6. When you sit down to eat a meal with a ruler, be careful how you eat. 2 Even if you enjoy your food, do not eat too much of it. 3 Do not want his special food for yourself. He may be trying to deceive you.
4 7. Do not work so hard to become rich that you make yourself ill. Be wise and rest when you need to. 5 Your money can disappear very quickly. It may seem to grow wings and then fly far away like an eagle.
6 8. Do not go and eat a meal with someone who hates to spend his money. His food may be good, but do not be greedy for it.
7 He says, ‘Eat and drink as much as you want,’ but he does not really mean that. He is thinking about the cost of the food.
8 Even if you only eat a little of his food, it will make you sick. All your nice words to him will be useless.
9 9. Do not speak to foolish people. They will think that your wise words are silly.
10 10. Never move a stone that has always shown the border of someone's land. Do not take for yourself the fields of people who have no family to help them. 11 God himself will be the relative who helps them. He will speak against you in court.
12 11. Listen carefully to your teacher and study well. Then you will learn knowledge.
13 12. Remember to warn your children when they do something wrong. If you punish them with a stick, you will not kill them. 14 Punishment may save them from death.
15 13. My child, if you become wise, I will be happy. 16 When I hear you speak true words, it will make me very happy.
17 14. Do not be jealous of sinners. Always respect the Lord and obey him in everything that you do. 18 Then you will be happy in future days. What you hope for will surely happen.
19 15. Listen to me, my child. Learn to be wise and to live in a good way.
20 Do not be a friend of people who become drunk. Do not be a friend of greedy people who eat too much. 21 People who are like that soon become poor. They sleep too much, and their clothes have holes in them.
22 16. Listen to your father. You would not be alive without him. Continue to respect your mother when she becomes old.
23 Truth, wisdom, good teaching and knowledge are valuable things. Buy them for yourself. Do not sell them.
24 The father of a righteous person will be very happy. He will be proud of a wise child. 25 So make your father and your mother proud of you. Do things that will make your mother happy.
26 17. Listen to me carefully, my son. Watch how I live.
27 Prostitutes are a dangerous trap for men. Women who are not faithful to their husbands can cause men to fall into danger, like a deep well. 28 They are like robbers who wait to attack people. They take more and more men away from their wives.
29-30 18. People who drink too much wine have many problems. Do you see someone who is in trouble? Someone who is very sad? Someone who argues or complains all the time? Do you see someone with wounds on his body for no reason, or someone with red eyes? Then you are looking at someone who likes to drink wine until late at night. He is someone who likes to try different drinks.
31 So do not even look at that beautiful red wine! Do not think about the pleasure it would give to you. 32 In the end, it will bite you, like a snake with its poison. 33 Your eyes will see strange things. Your mind will be confused so that you say crazy things.
34 You will roll about, like a man who tries to sleep on a ship in a storm. 35 You will say, ‘Somebody must have hit me, but I do not remember what happened. I need to wake up soon and have another drink.’
More wise thoughts
24 19. Do not be jealous of evil people. Do not try to be friends with them. 2 They only think about how to cause trouble. They only speak to be cruel.
3 20. It is wisdom that helps a man to build a house.[b] The house will have a strong foundation if he understands what is right. 4 Knowledge will help him to fill its rooms with beautiful and valuable things.
5 21. A wise man is better than a brave soldier. If a man learns knowledge, he will become stronger. 6 If you receive good advice before you fight a battle, you will win against your enemy.
7 22. A fool cannot understand wisdom. He has nothing to say when leaders meet.
8 23. If anyone has ideas to do evil things, people will know that he always causes trouble.
9 If you decide to do something foolish, that is a sin. People hate anyone who laughs at others.
10 24. If you stop trying in times of trouble, you are really very weak.
11 25. You should rescue people who are in danger of death. 12 You may say, ‘We did not know what was happening.’ But God knows your thoughts. He carefully watches your life and he knows what you are doing. He will pay back to you whatever you deserve.
13 26. My child, honey is good for you, so eat it. It is sweet on your tongue when you taste it.
14 In the same way, wisdom is also good for you. If you find wisdom, it will help you in life. The things that you hope for in the future will surely happen.
15 27. Do not be like wicked people who attack righteous people. Do not try to rob the homes of honest people. 16 If an honest person falls down seven times, he will still stand up again. But when trouble comes to a wicked person, that is the end of him.
17 28. Do not shout with joy when your enemy falls down. Do not be happy when his foot slips. 18 The Lord will know what you are thinking, and he will not be happy. He may decide not to punish your enemy.
19 29. Do not have trouble in your mind because of evil people. Do not be jealous of them. 20 A wicked person has nothing to hope for in the future. His life will end suddenly.
21 30. My child, respect and obey the Lord, and the king too. Do not be friends with people who turn against them. 22 Both the Lord and the king have the power to give strong punishment. In a moment they can destroy people who turn against them.
More wise thoughts
23 These are more things that wise people have said:
When you judge people, be fair. It is not good to respect some people more than others. 24 A judge must not say to a guilty person, ‘You are not guilty.’ If he does say that, everyone will curse him. People of all nations will say that he is bad. 25 When judges decide to punish a guilty person, they will be happy, because God will bless them.
26 Somebody who gives you an honest answer is your true friend.
27 Finish your work outside and prepare your fields. After that, you can build your house.
28 If you do not know what is true, do not speak against your neighbour in court. Do not deceive people with what you say. 29 Do not say, ‘I will do to him the same thing that he did to me. I will punish him because of what he did.’
30 I walked past the field of a lazy person. And I walked past the vineyard of a stupid person. 31 There were weeds and thorn bushes over all the ground. The wall of stones round the field had fallen down. 32 I looked at this and I thought about it carefully. I learned a lesson from the things that I had seen:
33 You may say, ‘I will have a short sleep. I will rest quietly for a while.’ 34 But while you sleep you will suddenly become poor. You will have nothing, as if someone has robbed you.
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