Mishlĕ (Proverbs) 22

¹A good name is preferable to great riches. Favour is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor meet together – יהוה is the Maker of them all.

³A clever one foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple go on and are punished.

⁴The reward of humility is the fear of יהוה, Riches, and esteem and life.

⁵Thorns, snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his life keeps far away from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he turns not away from it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows unrighteousness reaps trouble, And the rod of his wrath perishes.

⁹He who has a good eye is blessed, For he gives of his bread to the poor.

¹⁰Cast out the scoffer and strife goes out, And contention and shame cease.

¹¹He who loves cleanness of heart, Whose speech is pleasant, A sovereign is his friend.

¹²The eyes of יהוה shall watch over knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The lazy one says: “There is a lion outside!” “I am going to be murdered in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; The one denounced by יהוה falls in there.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶One oppresses the poor to increase his wealth , Another gives to the rich, only to come to poverty.

¹⁷Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge;

¹⁸For they are pleasant If you guard them within you; Let all of them be ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust might be in יהוה, I caused you to know today, even you:

²⁰Have I not previously written to you Of counsels and knowledge,

²¹To cause you to know The certainty of the words of truth, To return words of truth to those who send to you?

²²Do not rob the poor because he is poor, And oppress not the afflicted at the gate.

²³For יהוה pleads their cause, And shall plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Make no friendship with one given to wrath, And do not go with a man of rage,

²⁵Lest you learn his ways, And find yourself ensnared.

²⁶Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, One of those who are guarantors for debts.

²⁷If you do not have the means to pay, Why should he take away your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient boundary Which your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man who is skilled in his work? He does stand before sovereigns, He does not stand before obscure ones.