Proverbs, 22

1. Fame is preferable to great wealth, favour, to silver and gold.

1. A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold.

2. Rich and poor rub shoulders, Yahweh has made them both.

2. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD [is] the maker of them all.

3. The discreet sees danger and takes shelter, simpletons go ahead and pay the penalty.

3. A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

4. The reward of humility is the fear of Yahweh, and riches, honour and life.

4. By humility [and] the fear of the LORD [are] riches, and honour, and life.

5. Thorns and snares line the path of the wilful, whoever values life will stay at a distance.

5. Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

6. Give a lad a training suitable to his character and, even when old, he will not go back on it.

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 lords it over the poor, the borrower is the lender's slave.

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

8. Whoever sows injustice reaps disaster, and the rod of such anger will disappear.

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

9. A kindly eye will earn a blessing, such a person shares out food with the poor.

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

10. Expel the mocker and strife goes too, law-suits and dislike die down.

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

11. Whoever loves the pure of heart and is gracious of speech has the king for a friend.

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

12. Yahweh's eyes protect knowledge, but he confounds deceitful speeches.

12. The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

13. 'There is a lion outside,' says the idler, 'I shall be killed in the street!'

13. The slothful [man] saith, [There is] a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

14. The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit, into it falls the man whom Yahweh rebukes.

14. The mouth of strange women [is] a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

15. Folly is anchored in the heart of a youth, the whip of instruction will rid him of it.

15. Foolishness [is] bound in the heart of a child; [but] the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

16. Harsh treatment enriches the poor, but a gift impoverishes the rich.

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

17. Give ear, listen to the sayings of the sages, and apply your heart to what I know,

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

18. for it will be a delight to keep them deep within you to have them all ready on your lips.

18. For [it is] a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

19. So that your trust may be in Yahweh, it is you whom I wish to instruct today.

19. That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

20. Have I not written for you thirty chapters of advice and knowledge,

20. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

21. to make you know the certainty of true sayings, so that you can return with sound answers to those who sent you?

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. Do not despoil the weak, for he is weak, and do not oppress the poor at the gate,

22. Rob not the poor, because he [is] poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:

23. for Yahweh takes up their cause, and extorts the life of their extortioners.

23. For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

24. Do not make friends with one who gives way to anger, make no one quick-tempered a companion of yours,

24. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:

25. for fear you learn such behaviour and in it find a snare for yourself.

25. Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

26. Do not be one of those who go guarantor, who go surety for debts:

26. Be not thou [one] of them that strike hands, [or] of them that are sureties for debts.

27. if you have no means of paying your bed will be taken from under you.

27. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

28. Do not displace the ancient boundary-stone set by your ancestors.

28. Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

29. You see someone alert at his business? His aim will be to serve kings; not for him the service of the obscure.

29. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [men].