Things to be praised

¹My whole being takes pleasure

in three things,

harmony among brothers and sisters,

friendship among neighbors,

and a wife and husband

who adapt to each other.

²My whole being despises

three types of persons,

an arrogant poor person,

a rich liar,

an old adulterer who never learns.

³If you have gathered nothing

in your youth,

how then will you find anything

in your old age?

⁴How beautiful is sound judgment

in gray-haired women

and finding good advice in elderly men!

⁵How beautiful is wisdom in the aged

and thought and counsel

in those who are respectable!

⁶Experience is the crown of the aged

and respecting the Lord

is their claim to fame.

⁷In my heart, I would consider

nine conditions to be happy,

people who are made glad

by their children,

and who live to see the downfall

of their enemies.

⁸Happy are those

who live with sensible wives,

who don’t slip with their tongue,

and who haven’t been a servant to one inferior to themselves.

⁹Happy is the one

who has gained good sense

¹⁰How great is one who finds Wisdom,

¹¹Fear of the Lord surpasses everything;

Evil and good women

¹³Any wound, but not a wound to the heart;

and any wickedness,

but not a woman’s wickedness!

¹⁴Any attack,

but not an attack by those who hate;

and any vengeance,

but not the vengeance of enemies.

¹⁵No poison is worse than a snake’s poison,[#25.15 In both cases, LXX has head.]

and no anger is worse

than an enemy’s anger.

¹⁶I would rather live with a lion or a serpent

than live with a wicked woman.

¹⁷A woman’s wickedness

changes her appearance,

and it darkens her face like that of a bear.

¹⁸Her husband sits down among

his neighbors

and unintentionally groans bitterly.

¹⁹Any evil is small

when compared to a woman’s evil;

may she experience a sinner’s fate.

²⁰A talkative wife for a quiet husband

is like a sand dune

beneath the feet of an elderly person.

²¹Don’t fall for a woman’s beauty,

and don’t long for a woman.

²²There will be anger, shamelessness,

and utter disgrace

when a wife provides for her husband.

²³A wicked wife causes a humiliated heart,

a gloomy face,

and a wounded heart.

Drooping hands and weakened knees

come from a woman

who doesn’t make her husband happy.

²⁴Sin began with a woman,

and because of her all of us die.

²⁵Don’t allow an outlet for water,

and don’t give a wicked wife

freedom to speak.

²⁶If she doesn’t do as you say,

divorce her.