Proverbs 20:1-30
20 Wine is a ridiculer,+ alcohol is unruly;+Whoever goes astray by them is not wise.+
2 The terror* of a king is like the growling of a lion;*+Whoever provokes his anger risks his own life.+
3 It is honorable for a man to refrain from a dispute,+But every fool will become embroiled in it.+
4 The lazy one does not plow in winter,So he will be begging during the harvest when he has nothing.*+
5 The thoughts* of a man’s heart are like deep waters,But the discerning man draws them out.
6 Many men proclaim their loyal love,But who can find a faithful man?
7 The righteous one is walking in his integrity.+
Happy are his children* who come after him.+
8 When the king sits on the throne to judge,+He sifts out all evil with his eyes.+
9 Who can say: “I have cleansed my heart;+I am pure from my sin”?+
10 Dishonest weights and false measures*—Both are detestable to Jehovah.+
11 Even a child* is known by his actions,Whether his behavior is pure and right.+
12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye—Jehovah has made both of them.+
13 Do not love sleep, or you will come to poverty.+
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.+
14 “It is no good, it is no good!” says the buyer;Then he goes away and boasts about himself.+
15 There is gold, also much coral,*But the lips of knowledge are something precious.+
16 Take a man’s garment if he has given security for a stranger;+Seize the pledge from him if he did so for a foreign woman.*+
17 Bread gained by deceit tastes good to a man,But afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.+
18 By consultation,* plans will succeed,*+And by skillful direction* wage your war.+
19 A slanderer goes about revealing confidential talk;+Do not associate with one who loves to gossip.*
20 Whoever curses his father and his mother,His lamp will be extinguished when darkness comes.+
21 An inheritance obtained first by greedWill not be a blessing in the end.+
22 Do not say: “I will pay back evil!”+
Hope in Jehovah,+ and he will save you.+
23 Dishonest weights* are detestable to Jehovah,And deceptive scales are not good.
24 A man’s footsteps are directed by Jehovah;+How can a man understand his own way?*
25 It is a snare for a man to cry out rashly, “Holy!”+
And only later to give consideration to what he vowed.+
26 A wise king sifts out the wicked+And drives the threshing wheel over them.+
27 The breath of a man is the lamp of Jehovah,Searching through his innermost being.
28 Loyal love and faithfulness safeguard the king;+By loyal love he sustains his throne.+
29 The glory of young men is their strength,+And the splendor of old men is their gray hair.+
30 Bruises and wounds purge* away evil,+And beatings cleanse one’s innermost being.
Footnotes
^ Or “fearsomeness.”
^ Or “a maned young lion.”
^ Or possibly, “He will look during the harvest but find nothing.”
^ Or “intentions.” Lit., “counsel.”
^ Lit., “sons.”
^ Or “Two different stone weights and two different measuring containers.”
^ Or “boy.”
^ Or “a foreigner.”
^ Or “counsel.”
^ Or “be made firm.”
^ Or “wise guidance.”
^ Or “who entices with his lips.”
^ Or “Two different stone weights.”
^ Or “the way to go?”
^ Or “scour.”