Proverbs 22-24

21st Century King James Version

22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.

² The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.

³ A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass by and are punished.

⁴ With humility and the fear of the Lord come riches and honor and life.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the path of the froward; he that doth keep his soul shall stay far from them.

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷ The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail.

⁹ He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

¹⁰ Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go away; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

¹¹ He that loveth pureness of heart: for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

¹² The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and He overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

¹³ The slothful man saith, “There is a lion without! I shall be slain in the streets!”

¹⁴ The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred by the Lord shall fall therein.

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound into the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

¹⁶ He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

¹⁷ Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, that they may indeed be ready upon thy lips.

¹⁹ That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made it known to thee this day, even to thee!

²⁰ Have I not written to thee excellent things of counsel 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 unto thee?

²² Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted at the gate;

²³ for the Lord will plead their cause, and despoil the soul of those that despoiled 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 for 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 men of low estate.

23 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee;

² and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite.

³ Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat.

⁴ Labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.

⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly build themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward the heavens.

⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats;

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 to 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 shall plead their cause against thee.

¹² Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine 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 thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine;

¹⁶ yea, my reins shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in fear of the Lord all the day long.

¹⁸ For surely there is a reward, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

²⁰ Be not among winebibbers, 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 unto thy father that begot 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 in him.

²⁵ Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways;

²⁷ for a whore 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 wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.

³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

³² At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder:

³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

³⁴ Yea, 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 struck me,” shalt 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!”

24 Be thou not envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;

² for their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

³ Through wisdom a house is 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; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

⁶ For by wise counsel thou shalt wage thy war, and in the 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 wicked person.

⁹ The thinking of foolishness is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to men.

¹⁰ If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

¹¹ If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto 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 He not know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?

¹³ My son, eat thou honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste.

¹⁴ So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when thou hast found it; then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁵ Lie not in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place;

¹⁶ for a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into trouble.

¹⁷ Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine 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 of the wicked;

²⁰ for there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

²¹ My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and mingle 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 sayings also belong to the wise: It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

²⁴ He that saith unto 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 that answereth right words, giveth a kiss on the lips.

²⁷ Prepare thy work outside, and make ready the field for thyself; and afterwards build thine 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 thereof, and the stone wall thereof 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 wandereth, and thy want as an armed man.