Proverbs 22

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

2 The rich and the poor meet together. Jehovah is the maker of them all.

3 A prudent man sees the evil, and hides himself, but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

4 The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches and honor and life.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of a perverse man. He who keeps his soul shall be far from them.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.

7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

8 He who sows iniquity shall reap calamity, and the rod of his wrath shall fail.

9 He who has a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.

10 Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out, yea, strife and reproach will cease.

11 He who loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king will be his friend.

12 The eyes of Jehovah preserve knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous man.

13 The sluggard says, There is a lion outside. I shall be slain in the streets.

14 The mouth of interloping women is a deep pit. He who is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall in it.

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

16 He who oppresses a poor man to his increase, and he who gives to a rich man, comes only to want.

17 Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart to my knowledge.

18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, if they be established together upon thy lips.

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

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

21 to make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou may carry back words of truth to those who send thee?

22 Do not rob a poor man, because he is poor, nor oppress an afflicted man in the gate.

23 For Jehovah will plead their cause, and despoil of life those who despoil them.

24 Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger, and thou shall not go with a wrathful man,

25 lest thou learn this ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

26 Be thou not one of those who strike hands, or of those who are sureties for debts.

27 If thou have not wherewith to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

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

29 See thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before obscure men.