¹ A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
And loving favour rather than silver and gold.
² The rich and poor meet together:
The LORD is the maker of them all.
³ A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself:
But the simple pass on, and are punished.
⁴ By humility and the fear of the LORD
Are riches, and honour, and life.
⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward:
He that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go:
And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
⁷ The rich ruleth over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender.
⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity:
And the rod of his anger shall fail.
⁹ He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed;
For he giveth of his bread to the poor.
¹⁰ Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out;
Yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
¹¹ He that loveth pureness of heart,
For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
¹² The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge,
And he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
¹³ The slothful man saith, There is a lion without,
I shall be slain in the streets.
¹⁴ The mouth of strange women is a deep pit:
He that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
¹⁵ Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child;
But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
¹⁶ He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches,
And he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

Words of the Wise

¹⁷ Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise,
And apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee;
They shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
¹⁹ That thy trust may be in the LORD,
I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
²⁰ Have not I written to thee excellent things
In counsels and knowledge,
²¹ That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth;
That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

²² Rob not the poor, because he is poor:
Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
²³ For the LORD will plead their cause,
And spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
²⁴ Make no friendship with an angry man;
And with a furious man thou shalt not go:
²⁵ Lest thou learn his ways,
And get a snare to thy soul.
²⁶ Be not thou one of them that strike hands,
Or of them that are sureties for debts.
²⁷ If thou hast nothing to pay,
Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
²⁸ Remove not the ancient landmark,
Which thy fathers have set.
²⁹ Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
He shall not stand before mean men.