| 1 Whoever exacts vengeance wil experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin. |
| 2 Pardon your neighbour any wrongs done to you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven. |
| 3 If anyone nurses anger against another, can one then demand compassion from the Lord? |
| 4 Showing no pity for someone like oneself, can one then plead for one's own sins? |
| 5 Mere creature of flesh, yet cherishing resentment!-who wil forgive one for sinning? |
| 6 Remember the last things, and stop hating, corruption and death, and be faithful to the commandments. |
| 7 Remember the commandments, and do not bear your fel ow il -wil , remember the covenant of the MostHigh, and ignore the offence. |
| 8 Avoid quarrel ing and you wil sin less; for the hot-tempered provokes quarrels, |
| 9 a sinner sows trouble between friends, introducing discord among the peaceful. |
| 10 The way a fire burns depends on its fuel, a quarrel spreads in proportion to its violence; a man's ragedepends on his strength, his fury grows fiercer in proportion to his wealth. |
| 11 A sudden quarrel kindles fire, a hasty dispute leads to bloodshed. |
| 12 Blow on a spark and up it flares, spit on it and out it goes; both are the effects of your mouth. |
| 13 A curse on the scandal-monger and double-talker, such a person has ruined many who lived inconcord. |
| 14 That third tongue has shattered the peace of many and driven them from nation to nation; it has pul eddown fortified cities, and overthrown the houses of the great. |
| 15 The third tongue has had upright wives divorced, depriving them of reward for their hard work. |
| 16 No one who listens to it wil ever know peace of mind, wil ever live in peace again. |
| 17 A stroke of the whip raises a weal, but a stroke of the tongue breaks bones. |
| 18 Many have fal en by the edge of the sword, but many more have fal en by the tongue. |
| 19 Blessed is anyone who has been sheltered from it, and has not experienced its fury, who has notdragged its yoke about, or been bound in its chains; |
| 20 for its yoke is an iron yoke, its chains are bronze chains; |
| 21 the death it inflicts is a miserable death, Sheol is preferable to it. |
| 22 It cannot gain a hold over the devout, they are not burnt by its flames. |
| 23 Those who desert the Lord wil fal into it, it wil flare up inextinguishably among them, it wil be letloose against them like a lion, it wil tear them like a leopard. |
| 24 Be sure you put a thorn-hedge round your property, lock away your silver and gold; |
| 25 then make scales and weights for your words, and put a door with bolts across your mouth. |
| 26 Take care you take no false step through it, in case you fal a prey to him who lies in wait. |