Proverbs 20
1 Drinking a lot of wine or [other] strong drinks causes people to start fighting; it is foolish to become drunk/intoxicated.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever errs thereby is not wise.
2 Being afraid of a king when he is angry is like [SIM] being afraid of a lion when it growls/roars; if you cause the king to become angry, he may execute you.
The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger sins against his own life.
3 [People] respect those who stay away from disputes/arguments; foolish people [love to] quarrel.
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarrelling.
4 [If] a lazy man does not plow [his fields at the right/proper time], he will look for [crops] at harvest [time], but there will be nothing there.
The sluggard will not plow because of the winter. Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
5 [Just] as it is difficult to bring up water from a deep well, it is difficult to know what people are thinking, but someone who has good sense/insight will be able to find out what people are thinking.
Purpose in the heart of man is deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.
6 Many people proclaim that they can be trusted [to do what they say that they will do], but it is very difficult to find [RHQ] someone who can really be trusted.
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find?
7 If parents conduct their lives as they should, [God] blesses their children (OR, their children are very happy/fortunate).
A righteous man who walks in his integrity, blessed are his sons after him.
8 A king who sits on his throne to judge people can [easily] [MTY] find out what things that people have done are good and what things are evil.
A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.
9 There is no one [RHQ] who can truthfully say, “I do not know of any wrong things that I have done; I have (gotten rid of all my sinful behavior/quit doing what is sinful).”
Who can say, I have made my heart clean. I am pure from my sin?
10 Yahweh detests people who use weights that are not right and measures that are not correct.
Diverse weights, and diverse measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah.
11 Even children show by what they do whether they are good or not; they show whether (what they do/their behavior) is honest and right [or not].
Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
12 Two of the things that Yahweh has created [for us] are ears to hear things and eyes to see things.
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah has made even both of them.
13 If you want to sleep [all the time], you will become poor; if you stay awake [and work], you will have plenty of food.
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Open thine eyes, and thou shall be satisfied with bread.
14 People [look at things that they are about] to buy, [and in order to get it for a lower price sometimes they] say, “(It is no good/It is poor quality),” but [after they buy it], they go and boast [about having bought it for a cheap price].
It is bad, it is bad, says the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.
15 Gold and precious stones are [valuable], but wise words [MTY] are more valuable.
There is gold, and abundance of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
16 If you foolishly promise to a stranger that you will pay what he owes if he is unable to pay it [DOU], [you deserve to] have someone take your coat from you.
Take his garment who is surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge for foreigners.
17 People [may] think that food that they acquire by doing what is dishonest will taste very good, but later [they will not enjoy what they have done any more than they would enjoy] eating gravel/sand.
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
18 When people give you good advice, [if you do what they suggest], your plans will succeed; so be sure to get good advice from wise people before you start fighting a war.
Every purpose is established by counsel, and by wise guidance make thou war.
19 Those who go around telling gossip are [always] telling secrets to [others]; so stay away from people who foolishly talk [too much].
He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets. Therefore do not associate with him who opens wide his lips.
20 If someone curses his father or his mother, his life will be ended, [just] like a lamp is extinguished.
He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
21 If you very quickly take the property that your parents promise will be yours after they die, you will not receive any good/blessing from it.
An inheritance gotten hastily at the beginning shall not be blessed in the end.
22 Do not say, “I will do evil to those who do evil to me;” wait for Yahweh [to do something about it], and he will (help you/[do what is right]).
Say thou not, I will recompense evil. Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee.
23 Yahweh detests [those who use] dishonest scales and weights that are not accurate/correct.
Diverse weights are an abomination to Jehovah, and a false balance is not good.
24 Yahweh is the one who has decided what will happen to us, so (how can we (understand/know) what will happen before it happens?/we humans certainly cannot (understand/know) what will happen before it happens.) [RHQ]
A man's goings are of Jehovah, how then can man understand his way?
25 You should think carefully before you solemnly promise to dedicate something to God, because later you might be sorry you have promised to do it.
It is a snare to a man to say rashly, It is holy. And to make inquiry after vows.
26 Wise kings find out [MET] which people have done what is wrong, and they punish them very severely [IDM].
A wise king winnows the wicked, and brings the wheel over them.
27 Our consciences are [like] lamps that Yahweh [has given to us to enable us to know what we are thinking] [MET]; they reveal what is hidden deep in our (minds/inner beings).
The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all his innermost parts.
28 Kings will continue to rule as long as they faithfully love their people and are loyal to them and as long as they rule righteously/fairly.
Kindness and truth preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by kindness.
29 We honor/admire young people because they are strong, but we respect [MTY] old people more because they are wise.
The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the hoary head.
30 When we are beaten or whipped, it [can] cause us to quit doing what is evil in our lives; when someone wounds us [by punishing us], it [can] cause our behavior to become good.
Stripes that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes, the innermost parts.
