Proverbs 22

1. ¹A [supplied: good] name is rather to be chosen than great riches; loving favour rather than silver and gold.
2. ²The rich and poor meet together; Jehovah is the maker of them all.
3. ³A prudent [supplied: man] seeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
4. ⁴The reward of humility [supplied: and] the fear of Jehovah is riches, and honour, and life.
5. ⁵Thorns [supplied: and] snares are in the way of the perverse: he that keepeth his soul holdeth himself far from them.
6. ⁶Train up the child according to the tenor of his way, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
7. ⁷The rich ruleth over the poor; and the borrower is servant to the lender.
8. ⁸He that soweth unrighteousness shall reap iniquity, and the rod of his wrath shall have an end.
9. ⁹He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
10. ¹⁰Cast out the scorner, and contention will depart, and strife and ignominy shall cease.
11. ¹¹He that loveth pureness of heart, upon whose lips is grace, the king is his friend.
12. ¹²The eyes of Jehovah preserve knowledge; but he overthroweth the words of the unfaithful.
13. ¹³The sluggard saith, There is a lion without, I shall be killed in the streets!
14. ¹⁴The mouth of strange women is a deep ditch: he with whom Jehovah is displeased shall fall therein.
15. ¹⁵Folly is bound in the heart of a child; the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
16. ¹⁶He that oppresseth the poor, it is to enrich him; he that giveth to the rich, [supplied: bringeth] only to want.
17. ¹⁷Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart unto my knowledge.
18. ¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee: they shall be together fitted on thy lips.
19. ¹⁹That thy confidence may be in Jehovah, I have made [supplied: them] known to thee this day, even to thee.
20. ²⁰Have not I written to thee excellent things, in counsels and knowledge,
21. ²¹that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?
22. ²²Rob not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate;
23. ²³for Jehovah will plead their cause, and despoil the soul of those that despoil them.
24. ²⁴Make no friendship with an angry man, and go not with a furious man;
25. ²⁵lest thou learn his paths, and get a snare to thy soul.
26. ²⁶Be not of them that strike hands, of them that are sureties for debts:
27. ²⁷if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
28. ²⁸Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set.
29. ²⁹Hast thou seen a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before the mean.

Words in italics were supplied by the translators.

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