Proverbs 17:16-26

English Standard Version

¹⁶ Why should a fool have money in his hand ^(A)to buy wisdom
    when he has no sense?
^17 (B)A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for adversity.
¹⁸ One who lacks sense gives a pledge
    and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
¹⁹ Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
    he who ^(C)makes his door high seeks destruction.
^20 (D)A man of crooked heart does not discover good,
    and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
²¹ He who ^(E)sires a fool gets himself sorrow,
    and the father of a fool has no joy.
^22 (F)A joyful heart is good medicine,
    but a crushed spirit ^(G)dries up the bones.
²³ The wicked accepts ^(H)a bribe in secret^[a]
    to ^(I)pervert the ways of justice.
^24 (J)The discerning sets his face toward wisdom,
    but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
^25 (K)A foolish son is a grief to his father
    ^(L)and bitterness to ^(M)her who bore him.
^26 (N)To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good,
    nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.