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

¹⁷ Bow down thy ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart to my knowledge. ¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if thou keepest them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. ¹⁹ That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. ²⁰ Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, ²¹ That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send to thee?

²² Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: ²³ For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

²⁴ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: ²⁵ Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

²⁶ Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. ²⁷ If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

²⁸ Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

²⁹ Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: ² And put a knife to thy throat, if thou art a man given to appetite. ³ Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful food.

⁴ Labor not to be rich: cease from thy own wisdom. ⁵ Wilt thou set thy eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make to themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven.

⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties: ⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. ⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

⁹ Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰ Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: ¹¹ For their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause with thee.

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

¹³ Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴ Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵ My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. ¹⁶ Yes, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is an end; and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way. ²⁰ Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: ²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

²² Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy 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 that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. ²⁵ Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give me thy heart, and let thy eyes observe my ways. ²⁷ For a lewd woman is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸ She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

²⁹ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? ³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. ³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. ³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. ³³ Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴ And thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. ³⁵ They have stricken me, wilt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

¹ Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. ² For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

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

⁵ A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge increaseth strength. ⁶ For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counselors there is safety.

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

⁸ He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. ⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

¹⁰ If thou faintest in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. ¹¹ If thou forbearest to deliver them that are drawn to death, and those that are ready to be slain; ¹² If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and will not he render to every man according to his works?

¹³ My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honey-comb, which is sweet to thy taste: ¹⁴ So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁵ Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; destroy not his resting-place: ¹⁶ For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

¹⁷ Rejoice not when thy enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth: ¹⁸ Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

¹⁹ Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; ²⁰ For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be extinguished.

²¹ My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: ²² For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

²³ These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. ²⁴ He that saith to the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: ²⁵ But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

²⁶ Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.

²⁷ Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thy house.

²⁸ Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. ²⁹ Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

³⁰ I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of 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, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. ³³ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ³⁴ So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth; and thy want as an armed man.