Proverbs 22:17-Proverbs 24:34 - Words Of The Wise

¹⁷ Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to My knowledge. ¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall all be fitted in your lips, ¹⁹ so that your trust may be in Jehovah, I have made known to you this day, even to you. ²⁰ Have I not written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge, ²¹ that I might make you know the sureness of the words of truth; to return the words of truth to those who send to you?

²² Do not rob the poor, because he is poor; nor press down the afflicted in the gate; ²³ for Jehovah will plead their cause, and strip the soul of those who plunder them.

²⁴ Make no friendship with an angry man; and you shall not go up with a man of fury, ²⁵ lest you learn his ways and get a snare to your soul.

²⁶ Be not one of those who strike hands, of those who are sureties for debts. ²⁷ If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

²⁸ Do not remove the old landmark which your fathers have set.

²⁹ Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before unknown men.

¹ When you sit down to eat with a ruler, look carefully at what is before you; ² and put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. ³ Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food.

⁴ Do not labor to be rich; cease from your own understanding. ⁵ Will your eyes fly on it? And it is gone! For surely it makes wings for itself; it flies into the heavens like an eagle.

⁶ Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his dainty foods; ⁷ for as he thinks in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. ⁸ Your bit which you have eaten, you shall vomit up, and spoil your pleasant words.

⁹ Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰ Do not remove the old landmarks, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless; ¹¹ for their Redeemer is mighty; He shall plead their cause with you.

¹² Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³ Do not withhold correction from a boy, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die. ¹⁴ You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. ¹⁶ Yea, my heart shall rejoice when your lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners; but be in the fear of Jehovah all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ My son, hear and be wise, and guide your heart in the way. ²⁰ Do not be among those who drink much wine, among gluttons for flesh for themselves, ²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton lose all, and sleepiness shall clothe a man with rags.

²² Listen to your father who sired you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. ²³ Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he who fathers a wise child shall have joy from him. ²⁵ Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she who bore you shall rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes watch My ways. ²⁷ For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸ She also lies in wait as for prey, and increases the treacherous among men.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? ³⁰ Those who stay long at the wine, those who go to seek mixed wine. ³¹ Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly ³² At the last it bites like an asp and stings like an adder. ³³ Your eyes shall look upon strange women and your heart shall speak perverse things. ³⁴ Yes, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast, ³⁵ saying, They struck me; I was not sick; they beat me, but I did not know it. When I awaken, I will add more. I will seek it again.

¹ Do not be jealous of evil men, nor desire to be with them. ² For their heart studies ruin, and their lips talk of mischief.

³ Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; ⁴ and by knowledge the rooms shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵ A wise man is strong; yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. ⁶ For by wise counsel you shall make your war; and in a multitude of wise men there is safety.

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the gate.

⁸ He who plots to do evil shall be called a master of wicked thoughts. ⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin; and the scorner is hateful to men.

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of trial, your strength is small. ¹¹ Deliver those being taken to death, and those stumbling to be killed, unless you hold back. ¹² If you say, Behold, we did not know; does not He who searches the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a man according to his works.

¹³ My son, eat honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate; ¹⁴ so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁵ Wicked one, do not lie in ambush at the dwelling of the righteous; do not spoil his resting place; ¹⁶ for a just one falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked shall fall into evil.

¹⁷ Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; ¹⁸ lest Jehovah see, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.

¹⁹ Do not fret yourself because of evil ones, nor be jealous of the wicked; ²⁰ for there shall not be a hereafter to the evil; the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

²¹ My son, fear Jehovah and the king; and do not fellowship with those who are given to change; ²² for their trouble shall rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin of them both?

²³ These also are for the wise: To have respect of persons in judgment is not good. ²⁴ He who says to the wicked, You are righteous; the people shall curse him and nations shall abhor him. ²⁵ But to those who rebuke him, it shall be a delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

²⁶ He shall kiss the lips that return right words.

²⁷ Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house.

²⁸ Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, nor deceive with your lips. ²⁹ Do not say, I will do so to him as he has done to me; I will give to the man according to his work.

³⁰ I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man without understanding; ³¹ and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face of it, and its stone wall was broken down. ³² Then I saw; I set my heart on it; I looked and I received instruction. ³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down; ³⁴ then your poverty comes stalking, and your want like a man armed with a shield.