My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:

For the turning back of the simple from teaching will be the cause of their death, and the peace of the foolish will be their destruction.

Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;

But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.

Let not mercy and good faith go from you; let them be hanging round your neck, recorded on your heart;

Put no high value on your wisdom: let the fear of the Lord be before you, and keep yourself from evil:

By his knowledge the deep was parted, and dew came dropping from the skies.

My son, keep good sense, and do not let wise purpose go from your eyes.

For the Lord will be your hope, and will keep your foot from being taken in the net.

Do not keep back good from those who have a right to it, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

For I give you good teaching; do not give up the knowledge you are getting from me.

Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth.

Keep far from it, do not go near; be turned from it, and go on your way.

Let them not go from your eyes; keep them deep in your heart.

Put away from you an evil tongue, and let false lips be far from you.

Let there be no turning to the right or to the left, keep your feet from evil.

For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.

Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;

Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.

He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.

Make yourself free, like the roe from the hand of the archer, and the bird from him who puts a net for her.

How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?

They will keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman.

So it is with him who goes in to his neighbour's wife; he who has anything to do with her will not go free from punishment.

So that they may keep you from the strange woman, even from her whose words are smooth.

Looking out from my house, and watching through the window,

From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.

Then I was by his side, as a master workman: and I was his delight from day to day, playing before him at all times;

For whoever gets me gets life, and grace from the Lord will come to him.

Wealth which comes from sin is of no profit, but righteousness gives salvation from death.

The Lord will not let the upright be in need of food, but he puts far from him the desire of the evil-doers.

Wealth is of no profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness keeps a man safe from death.

Certainly the evil-doer will not go free from punishment, but the seed of the upright man will be safe.

A good man has grace in the eyes of the Lord; but the man of evil designs gets punishment from him.

From the fruit of his mouth will a man have good food in full measure, and the work of a man's hands will be rewarded.

A man will get good from the fruit of his lips, but the desire of the false is for violent acts.

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning men away from the nets of death.

Go away from the foolish man, for you will not see the lips of knowledge.

The wise man, fearing, keeps himself from evil; but the foolish man goes on in his pride, with no thought of danger.

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, by which one may be turned from the nets of death.

Knowledge is dropping from the tongue of the wise; but from the mouth of the foolish comes a stream of foolish words.

There is bitter punishment for him who is turned from the way; and death will be the fate of the hater of teaching.

Acting wisely is the way of life, guiding a man away from the underworld.

The heart of the upright gives thought to his answer; but from the mouth of the evil-doer comes a stream of evil things.

The Lord is far from sinners, but his ear is open to the prayer of the upright.

The designs of the heart are man's, but the answer of the tongue comes from the Lord.

Everyone who has pride in his heart is disgusting to the Lord: he will certainly not go free from punishment.

By mercy and good faith evil-doing is taken away: and by the fear of the Lord men are turned away from evil.

The highway of the upright is to be turned away from evil: he who takes care of his way will keep his soul.

Whoever makes sport of the poor puts shame on his Maker; and he who is glad because of trouble will not go free from punishment.

Fair words are not to be looked for from a foolish man, much less are false lips in a ruler.

If anyone gives back evil for good, evil will never go away from his house.

Wealth makes a great number of friends; but the poor man is parted from his friend.

All the brothers of the poor man are against him: how much more do his friends go far from him! ...

House and wealth are a heritage from fathers, but a wife with good sense is from the Lord.

A son who no longer gives attention to teaching is turned away from the words of knowledge.

It is an honour for a man to keep from fighting, but the foolish are ever at war.

Who is able to say, I have made my heart clean, I am free from my sin?

Even a child may be judged by his doings, if his work is free from sin and if it is right.

Take a man's clothing if he makes himself responsible for a strange man, and get an undertaking from him who gives his word for strange men.

The wanderer from the way of knowledge will have his resting-place among the shades.

He who keeps watch over his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

The horse is made ready for the day of war, but power to overcome is from the Lord.

Thorns and nets are in the way of the twisted: he who keeps watch over his soul will be far from them.

If a child is trained up in the right way, even when he is old he will not be turned away from it.

Foolish ways are deep-seated in the heart of a child, but the rod of punishment will send them far from him.

If you have nothing with which to make payment, he will take away your bed from under you.

Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.

Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld

Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:

They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.

Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction.

For fear that the Lord may see it, and it may be evil in his eyes, and his wrath may be turned away from him.

Then looking at it, I gave thought: I saw, and I got teaching from it.

Take away the waste from silver, and a vessel will come out for the silver-worker.

Take away evil-doers from before the king, and the seat of his power will be made strong in righteousness.

As cold water to a tired soul, so is good news from a far country.

Like a bird wandering from the place of her eggs is a man wandering from his station.

Take a man's clothing if he makes himself responsible for a strange man, and get an undertaking from him who gives his word for strange men.

Even if a foolish man is crushed with a hammer in a vessel among crushed grain, still his foolish ways will not go from him.

As for the man whose ear is turned away from hearing the law, even his prayer is disgusting.

A man of good faith will have great blessing, but one attempting to get wealth quickly will not go free from punishment.

He who takes from his father or his mother what is theirs by right, and says, It is no sin; is the same as a taker of life.

If a servant is gently cared for from his early years, he will become a cause of sorrow in the end.

The approval of a ruler is desired by great numbers: but the decision in a man's cause comes from the Lord.

The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, from Massa. The man says: I am full of weariness, O God, I am full of weariness; O God, I have come to an end:

I have made request to you for two things; do not keep them from me before my death:

Put far from me all false and foolish things: do not give me great wealth or let me be in need, but give me only enough food:

There is a generation who seem to themselves to be free from sin, but are not washed from their unclean ways.

There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, their strong teeth like knives, for the destruction of the poor from the earth, and of those who are in need from among men.

The lion, which is strongest among beasts, not turning from his way for any;

The words of Lemuel, king of Massa: the teaching which he had from his mother.

Let him have drink, and his need will go from his mind, and the memory of his trouble will be gone.

She is like the trading-ships, getting food from far away.

Fair looks are a deceit, and a beautiful form is of no value; but a woman who has the fear of the Lord is to be praised.