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 luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith shell not be 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.
As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul.
3 [People] respect those who stay away from disputes/arguments; foolish people [love to] quarrel.
It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches.
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.
Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him.
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.
Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man 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.
Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man?
7 If parents conduct their lives as they should, [God] blesses their children (OR, their children are very happy/fortunate).
The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave behind him blessed children.
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.
The king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look.
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: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?
10 Yahweh detests people who use weights that are not right and measures that are not correct.
Diverse weights and diverse measures, both are abominable before God.
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].
By his inclinations a child is known, if his works be clean and 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, the Lord hath made them both.
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 poverty oppress thee: open thy eyes, and be filled 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 nought, it is nought, saith every buyer: and when he is gone away, then he will boast.
15 Gold and precious stones are [valuable], but wise words [MTY] are more valuable.
There is gold, and a multitude of jewels: but the lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.
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 away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers.
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.
The bread of lying 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.
Designs are strengthened by counsels: and wars are to be managed by governments.
19 Those who go around telling gossip are [always] telling secrets to [others]; so stay away from people who foolishly talk [too much].
Meddle not with him that revealeth secrets, and walketh deceitfully, and openeth wide his lips.
20 If someone curses his father or his mother, his life will be ended, [just] like a lamp is extinguished.
He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be put out in the midst 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.
The inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning, in the end shall be without a blessing.
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 not: I will return evil: wait for the Lord and he will deliver thee.
23 Yahweh detests [those who use] dishonest scales and weights that are not accurate/correct.
Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful 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]
The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own 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 ruin to a man to devour holy ones, and after vows to retract.
26 Wise kings find out [MET] which people have done what is wrong, and they punish them very severely [IDM].
A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth over them the wheel.
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 a man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels.
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.
Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency.
29 We honor/admire young people because they are strong, but we respect [MTY] old people more because they are wise.
The joy of young men is their strength: and the dignity of old men, their grey hairs.
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.
The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more inward parts of the belly.
