- 22:1A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, / And favor is better than silver and gold.
- 22:2The rich and the poor have this in common: / Jehovah is the maker of them all.
- 22:3A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, / But the simple pass on and suffer punishment for it.
- 22:4The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah / Are riches and honor and life.
- 22:5Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; / He who guards his soul will keep far from them.
- 22:6Train up a child according to the way he should go; / Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
- 22:7The rich man rules over the poor, / And the borrower is servant to the lender.
- 22:8He who sows injustice will reap iniquity, / And the rod of his wrath will fail.
- 22:9He who is generous will be blessed, / For he gives some of his bread to the poor.
- 22:10Cast out the scorner, and contention will go out; / Indeed, strife and dishonor will cease.
- 22:11He who loves pureness of heart / And whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend.
- 22:12The eyes of Jehovah preserve knowledge, / But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.
- 22:13The sluggard says, There is a lion outside! / I will be slain in the streets!
- 22:14The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; / He with whom Jehovah is indignant will fall in there.
- 22:15Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; / But the rod of correction will drive it far from him.
- 22:16He who oppresses the poor to multiply his gain, / And he who gives to the rich will only come to want.
- 22:17Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, / And apply your heart to my knowledge;
- 22:18For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; / Let them be ready on your lips.
- 22:19So that your trust may be in Jehovah, / I have made them known to you today, even to you.
- 22:20Have not I written to you excellent things / Of counsels and knowledge,
- 22:21To make you know the certainty of the words of truth, / That you may answer back words of truth to those who send you?
- 22:22Do not rob the poor, because he is poor; / Nor oppress the afflicted in the gate;
- 22:23For Jehovah will plead their cause, / And rob the life of those who rob them.
- 22:24Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger, / And with a wrathful man do not go;
- 22:25Lest you learn his ways / And get a snare for your soul.
- 22:26Do not be one of those who give their hand as a pledge / Or one of those who are a surety for debts.
- 22:27If you have nothing with which to pay, / Why should your bed be taken away from under you?
- 22:28Do not remove the ancient boundary marker, / Which your fathers have set up.
- 22:29Do you see a man skilled in his work? / He will stand before kings; / He will not stand before obscure men.
- 23:1When you sit to eat with a ruler, / Consider carefully who is before you;
- 23:2And put a knife to your throat / If you are a man of great appetite.
- 23:3Do not desire his delicacies, / For they are deceitful food.
- 23:4Do not weary yourself to become rich; / Cease from your consideration of it.
- 23:5When you set your eyes upon it, it is gone; / For wealth certainly makes itself wings, / Like an eagle that flies toward heaven.
- 23:6Do not eat the bread of one who is envious, / And do not desire his delicacies;
- 23:7For as he thinks within himself, so he is. / He says to you, Eat and drink; / But his heart is not with you.
- 23:8You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten, / And waste your pleasant words.
- 23:9Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, / For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
- 23:10Do not remove the ancient boundary marker, / Or go into the fields of the fatherless;
- 23:11For their Redeemer is strong; / He will plead their cause against you.
- 23:12Apply your heart to instruction, / And your ears to words of knowledge.
- 23:13Do not withhold correction from a child; / If you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
- 23:14If you beat him with the rod, / You will deliver his soul from Sheol.
- 23:15My son, if your heart is wise, / My own heart will also rejoice;
- 23:16My inward parts will also exult, / When your lips speak right things.
- 23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners, / But live in the fear of Jehovah all day long;
- 23:18For surely there is a latter end, / And your hope will not be cut off.
- 23:19Listen, my son, and be wise, / And direct your heart in the way.
- 23:20Do not be among those who get drunk with wine, / Among gluttonous eaters of flesh;
- 23:21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, / And drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
- 23:22Listen to your father who begot you, / And do not despise your mother when she is old.
- 23:23Buy truth, and do not sell it; / Buy wisdom and instruction and understanding.
- 23:24The father of the righteous man will greatly exult, / And he who begets a wise child will rejoice in him.
- 23:25Let your father and your mother rejoice, / And let her who bore you exult.
- 23:26My son, give me your heart, / And let your eyes observe my ways.
- 23:27For a harlot is a deep pit, / And an adulteress is a narrow well.
- 23:28Indeed, she lies in wait as a robber, / And increases the number of the treacherous among men.
- 23:29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? / Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness / of eyes?
- 23:30Those who linger late over wine, / Those who go to seek out mixed wines.
- 23:31Do not look upon the wine when it is red, / When it sparkles in the cup, / When it goes down smoothly;
- 23:32In the end it bites like a serpent, / And stings like an adder.
- 23:33Your eyes will see strange things, / And your heart will utter perverse things;
- 23:34And you will be like one who lies down while at sea, / Or like one who lies down at the top of a mast.
- 23:35They struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt; / They beat me, but I did not feel it; / When will I awake? I will seek another drink.