Proverbs 22

¹ A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

² The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the maker of them all.

³ A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

⁴ The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards himself will keep 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 rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

⁸ He who sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

⁹ He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

¹⁰ Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹ He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.

¹² The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the faithless.

¹³ The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!"

¹⁴ The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.

¹⁵ Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶ He who oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to want.

¹⁷ Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge;

¹⁸ for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹ That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

²⁰ Have I not written for you thirty sayings of admonition and knowledge,

²¹ to show you what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²² Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;

²³ for the LORD will plead their cause and despoil of life those who despoil them.

²⁴ Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,

²⁵ lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶ Be not one of those who give pledges, who become surety for debts.

²⁷ If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸ Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.

²⁹ Do you see a man skillful in his work? he will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.