| 1 A drunken workman wil never grow rich, and one who makes light of small matters will gradual y sink. |
| 2 Wine and women corrupt intel igent men, the customer of whores loses al sense of shame. |
| 3 Grubs and worms wil have him as their legacy, and the man who knows no shame will lose his life. |
| 4 Being too ready to trust shows shal owness of mind, and sinning harms the sinner. |
| 5 Taking pleasure in evil earns condemnation; |
| 6 by hating gossip one avoids evil. |
| 7 Never repeat what you are told and you wil come to no harm; |
| 8 whether to friend or foe, do not talk about it, unless it would be sinful not to, do not reveal it; |
| 9 you would be heard out, then mistrusted, and in due course you would be hated. |
| 10 Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Courage! It wil not burst you! |
| 11 A fool wil suffer birthpangs over a piece of news, like a woman labouring with child. |
| 12 Like an arrow stuck in the flesh of the thigh, so is a piece of news inside a fool. |
| 13 Question your friend, he may have done nothing at al ; and if he has done anything, he wil not do itagain. |
| 14 Question your neighbour, he may have said nothing at al ; and if he has said anything, he wil not sayit again. |
| 15 Question your friend, for slander is very common, do not believe al you hear. |
| 16 People sometimes make a slip, without meaning what they say; and which of us has never sinned byspeech? |
| 17 Question your neighbour before you threaten him, and defer to the Law of the Most High. |
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| 20 Wisdom consists entirely in fearing the Lord, and wisdom is entirely constituted by the fulfil ing of theLaw. |
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| 22 Being learned in evil, however, is not wisdom, there is no prudence in the advice of sinners. |
| 23 There is a cleverness that is detestable; whoever has no wisdom is a fool. |
| 24 Better be short of sense and ful of fear, than abound in shrewdness and violate the Law. |
| 25 There is a wickedness which is scrupulous but nonetheless dishonest, and there are those whomisuse kindness to win their case. |
| 26 There is the person who wil walk bowed down with grief, when inwardly this is nothing but deceit: |
| 27 he hides his face and pretends to be deaf, if he is not unmasked, he wil take advantage of you. |
| 28 There is the person who is prevented from sinning by lack of strength, yet he wil do wrong when hegets the chance. |
| 29 You can tel a person by his appearance, you can tell a thinker by the look on his face. |
| 30 The way a person dresses, the way he laughs, the way he walks, tel you what he is. |