Proverbs 19

¹Better the poor walking in integrity

than one perverse of speech who is a fool.

²Desire without knowledge is not good,

and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.

³One’s own folly leads to ruin,

yet the heart rages against the Lord.

⁴Wealth brings many friends,

but the poor are left friendless.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished,

and a liar will not escape.

⁶Many seek the favor of the generous,

and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.

⁷If the poor are hated even by their kin,

how much more are they shunned by their friends!

When they call after them, they are not there.

⁸To get wisdom is to love oneself;

to keep understanding is to prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished,

and the liar will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury,

much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹Those with good sense are slow to anger,

and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s anger is like the growling of a lion,

but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A stupid child is ruin to a father,

and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from parents,

but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep;

an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶Those who keep the commandment will live;

those who are heedless of their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,

and will be repaid in full.

¹⁸Discipline your children while there is hope;

do not set your heart on their destruction.

¹⁹A violent tempered person will pay the penalty;

if you effect a rescue, you will only have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction,

that you may gain wisdom for the future.

²¹The human mind may devise many plans,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.

²²What is desirable in a person is loyalty,

and it is better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the Lord is life indeed;

filled with it one rests secure

and suffers no harm.

²⁴The lazy person buries a hand in the dish,

and will not even bring it back to the mouth.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;

reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother

are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

²⁷Cease straying, my child, from the words of knowledge,

in order that you may hear instruction.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice,

and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Condemnation is ready for scoffers,

and flogging for the backs of fools.