Proverbs 24

¹ My son, envy not bad men,

nor desire to be with them.

² For their heart meditateth falsehoods,

and their lips speak mischiefs.

³ A house is built by wisdom,

and is set up by understanding.

⁴ By discretion the chambers are filled

with all precious and excellent wealth.

⁵ A wise man is better than a strong man;

and a man who hath prudence than a large estate.

⁶ War is carried on with generalship,

and aid is supplied to the heart of a counsellor.

⁷ Wisdom and good understanding are in the gates of the wise:

the wise turn not aside from the mouth of the Lord,

⁸ but deliberate in council.

Death befalleth uninstructed men.

⁹ The fool also dieth in sins;

and uncleanness attacheth to a pestilent man.

¹⁰ He shall be defiled in the evil day,

and in the day of affliction, until he be utterly consumed.

¹¹ Deliver them that are led away to death,

and redeem them that are appointed to be slain; spare not thy help.

¹² But if thou shouldst say, I know not this man;

know that the Lord knoweth the hearts of all;

and he that formed breath for all, he knoweth all things,

who rendereth to every man according to his works.

¹³ My son, eat honey, for the honeycomb is good,

that thy throat may be sweetened.

¹⁴ Thus shalt thou perceive wisdom in thy soul:

for if thou find it, thine end shall be good,

and hope shall not fail thee.

¹⁵ Bring not an ungodly man into the dwelling of the righteous:

neither be deceived by the feeding of the belly.

¹⁶ For a righteous man will fall seven times, and rise again:

but the ungodly shall be without strength in troubles.

¹⁷ If thine enemy should fall, rejoice not over him,

neither be elated at his overthrow.

¹⁸ For the Lord will see it, and it will not please him,

and he will turn away his wrath from him.

¹⁹ Rejoice not in evil-doers,

neither be envious of sinners.

²⁰ For the evil man shall have no posterity:

and the light of the wicked shall be put out.

²¹ My son, fear God and the king;

and do not disobey either of them.

²² For they will suddenly punish the ungodly,

and who can know the vengeance inflicted by both?

^22a ^[1]^[2]A son that keepeth the commandment shall ^[3]escape destruction;

for such a one hath fully received it.

^22b Let no falsehood be spoken by the king from the tongue;

yea, let no falsehood proceed from his tongue.

^22c The king’s tongue is a sword, and not one of flesh;

and whosoever shall be given up to it shall be destroyed:

^22d for if his wrath should be provoked,

he destroyeth men with cords,

^22e and devoureth men’s bones,

and burneth them up as a flame,

so that they are not even fit to be eaten by the young eagles.

^30:1 My son, reverence my words, and receive them, and repent.

These things saith the man to them that trust in God; and I cease.

² For I am the most simple of all men,

and there is not in me the wisdom of men.

³ God hath taught me wisdom,

and I know the knowledge of the holy.

⁴ Who hath gone up to heaven, and come down?

who hath gathered the winds in his ^[4]bosom?

who hath wrapped up the waters in a garment?

who hath dominion of all the ends of the earth?

what is his name? or what is the name of his children?

⁵ For all the words of God are tried in the fire,

and he defendeth those that reverence him.

⁶ Add not unto his words,

lest he reprove thee, and thou be made a liar.

⁷ Two things I ask of thee;

take not favour from me before I die.

⁸ Remove far from me vanity and falsehood:

and give me not wealth or poverty;

but appoint me what is needful and sufficient:

⁹ lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who seeth me?

or be poor and steal, and swear vainly by the name of God.

¹⁰ Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master,

lest he curse thee, and thou be utterly destroyed.

¹¹ A wicked generation curse their father,

and do not bless their mother.

¹² A wicked generation judge themselves to be just,

but do not cleanse their way.

¹³ A wicked generation have lofty eyes,

and exalt themselves with their eyelids.

¹⁴ A wicked generation have swords for teeth and jaw-teeth as knives,

so as to destroy and devour the lowly from the earth,

and the poor of them from among men.

^24:23 And this thing I say to you that are wise for you to learn:

It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

²⁴ He that saith of the ungodly, He is righteous,

shall be cursed by peoples, and hateful among the nations.

²⁵ But they that reprove him shall appear more excellent,

and blessing shall come upon them;

²⁶ and men will kiss lips that answer well.

²⁷ Prepare thy works for thy going forth,

and prepare thyself for the field;

and come after me,

and thou shalt rebuild thy house.

²⁸ Be not a false witness against thy fellow citizen,

neither exaggerate with thy lips.

²⁹ Say not, As he hath treated me, so will I treat him,

and I will avenge myself on him for that wherein he hath injured me.

³⁰ A foolish man is like a farm,

and a senseless man is like a vineyard.

³¹ If thou let him alone, he will altogether remain barren and covered with ^[5]weeds;

and he becometh destitute,

and his stone walls are broken down.

³² Afterwards I reflected,

I looked that I might receive instruction.

³³ The sluggard saith, I slumber a little, and I sleep a little,

and for a little while I fold mine arms across my breast.

³⁴ But if thou do this, thy poverty will come speedily;

and thy want like a swift courier.

^30:15 The horse-leech had three dearly-beloved daughters:

and these three did not satisfy her;

and the fourth was not contented so as to say, Enough.

¹⁶ The grave, and the love of a woman,

and the earth not filled with water;

water also and fire will not say, It is enough.

¹⁷ The eye that laugheth to scorn a father, and dishonoureth the old age of a mother,

let the ravens of the valleys pick it out,

and let the young eagles devour it.

¹⁸ Moreover there are three things impossible for me to comprehend,

and the fourth I know not:

¹⁹ the track of a flying eagle;

and the ways of a serpent on a rock;

and the paths of a ship passing through the sea;

and the ways of a man in youth.

²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman,

who having washed herself from what she hath done, saith she hath done nothing ^[6]amiss.

²¹ By three things the earth is troubled,

and the fourth it cannot bear:

²² if a servant reign;

or a fool be filled with food;

²³ or if a maidservant should cast out her own mistress;

and if a hateful woman should marry a good man.

²⁴ And there are four very little things upon the earth,

but these are wiser than the wise:

²⁵ the ants which are weak,

and yet prepare their food in summer;

²⁶ the rabbits also are a feeble race,

who make their houses in the rocks.

²⁷ The locusts have no king,

and yet march orderly at one command.

²⁸ And the eft, which supporteth itself by its hands, and is easily taken,

dwelleth in the fortresses of kings.

²⁹ And there are three things which go well,

and a fourth which passeth along finely.

³⁰ A lion’s whelp, stronger than all other beasts,

which turneth not away, nor feareth any beast;

³¹ and a cock walking in boldly among the hens,

and a goat leading the herd;

and a king publicly speaking before a nation.

³² If thou abandon thyself to mirth,

and stretch forth thy hand in a quarrel, thou shalt be disgraced.

³³ Milk out milk, and there shall be butter,

and if thou wring one’s nostrils there shall come out blood:

so if thou extort words, there will come forth quarrels and strifes.

^31:1 My words have been spoken by God—the oracular answer of a king, whom his mother instructed.

² What wilt thou keep, my son, what? the words of God.

My first-born son, I speak to thee:

what? ^[7]son of my womb?

what? son of my vows?

³ Give not thy wealth to women,

nor thy mind and living to remorse.

⁴ Do all things with counsel:

drink wine with counsel.

Princes are prone to anger:

let them then not drink wine:

⁵ lest they drink, and forget wisdom,

and be not able to judge the poor rightly.

⁶ Give strong drink to those that are in sorrow,

and the wine to drink to those in pain:

⁷ that they may forget their poverty,

and may not remember their troubles any more.

⁸ Open thy mouth with the word of God,

and judge all fairly.

⁹ Open thy mouth and judge justly,

and plead the cause of the poor and weak.

Notes

24:22a Heb. omits verses 22a–22e and the first sentence of 30:1 ↩
24:22a The verses of this chapter are much intermingled with parts of other chapters. ↩
24:22a escape: lit. be outside of ↩
30:4 bosom: or, fold of his robe ↩
24:31 weeds: Gr. grass ↩
30:20 amiss: Gr. out of place ↩
31:2 son of my womb: The usual punctuation has been altered. ↩