If you have nothing with which to pay,
Why should he take your bed from under you?

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

And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.

When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;

You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,
And waste your compliments.

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Do not move the ancient boundary
Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

Apply your heart to discipline
And your ears to words of knowledge.

My son, if your heart is wise,
My own heart also will be glad;

And my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak what is right.

Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But live in the fear of the Lord always.

Surely there is a future,
And your hope will not be cut off.

Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way.

Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.

Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.

Your eyes will see strange things
And your mind will utter perverse things.

And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

For by wise guidance you will wage war,
And in abundance of counselors there is victory.

If you are slack in the day of distress,
Your strength is limited.

Deliver those who are being taken away to death,
And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back.

If you say, “See, we did not know this,”
Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?
And does He not know it who keeps your soul?
And will He not render to man according to his work?

My son, eat honey, for it is good,
Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;
If you find it, then there will be a future,
And your hope will not be cut off.

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

Or the Lord will see it and be displeased,
And turn His anger away from him.

Do not fret because of evildoers
Or be envious of the wicked;

My son, fear the Lord and the king;
Do not associate with those who are given to change,

These also are sayings of the wise.
To show partiality in judgment is not good.

He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”
Peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him;

Prepare your work outside
And make it ready for yourself in the field;
Afterwards, then, build your house.

Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
And do not deceive with your lips.

Then your poverty will come as a robber
And your want like an armed man.

These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed.

For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,”
Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.

Do not go out hastily to argue your case;
Otherwise, what will you do in the end,
When your neighbor humiliates you?

Argue your case with your neighbor,
And do not reveal the secret of another,

Or he who hears it will reproach you,
And the evil report about you will not pass away.

Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

Let your foot rarely be in your neighbor’s house,
Or he will become weary of you and hate you.

Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow
Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda,
Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.

Like the legs which are useless to the lame,
So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Like an archer who wounds everyone,
So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by.

For lack of wood the fire goes out,
And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
For there are seven abominations in his heart.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend,
And do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity;
Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain
And a contentious woman are alike;

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.

Know well the condition of your flocks,
And pay attention to your herds;

For riches are not forever,
Nor does a crown endure to all generations.

When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

The lambs will be for your clothing,
And the goats will bring the price of a field,

And there will be goats’ milk enough for your food,
For the food of your household,
And sustenance for your maidens.

The wicked flee when no one is pursuing,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.

By the transgression of a land many are its princes,
But by a man of understanding and knowledge, so it endures.

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.

He who robs his father or his mother
And says, “It is not a transgression,”
Is the companion of a man who destroys.

When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man,
The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

Men of bloodshed hate the blameless,
But the upright are concerned for his life.

Correct your son, and he will give you comfort;
He will also delight your soul.

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law.

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or His son’s name?
Surely you know!

Do not add to His words
Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.

Do not slander a slave to his master,
Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.

There is a kind—oh how lofty are his eyes!
And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.

There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords
And his jaw teeth like knives,
To devour the afflicted from the earth
And the needy from among men.

The leech has two daughters,
“Give,” “Give.”
There are three things that will not be satisfied,
Four that will not say, “Enough”:

There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Four which I do not understand:

Four things are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:

The ants are not a strong people,
But they prepare their food in the summer;

The shephanim are not mighty people,
Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

There are three things which are stately in their march,
Even four which are stately when they walk:

If you have been foolish in exalting yourself
Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

Do not give your strength to women,
Or your ways to that which destroys kings.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Or for rulers to desire strong drink,

Open your mouth for the mute,
For the rights of all the unfortunate.

Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.

Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.

All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.

All things are wearisome;
Man is not able to tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.

I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.

A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”

Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.