Proverbs 22 · Clearspring

A Good Name

¹A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.+ ²The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.+ ³The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.+ ⁴The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life.+ ⁵Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.+ ⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.+ ⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.+ ⁸He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.+ ⁹A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.+ ¹⁰Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease.+ ¹¹He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.+ ¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless.+ ¹³The slacker says, “ There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”+ ¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.+ ¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.+ ¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.+

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

¹⁷Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise — apply your mind to my knowledge —+ ¹⁸for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.+ ¹⁹So that your trust may be in the LORD, I instruct you today — yes, you.+ ²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,+ ²¹to show you true and reliable words, that you may soundly answer those who sent you?+

Saying 2

²²Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,+ ²³for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.+

Saying 3

²⁴Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,+ ²⁵or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.+

Saying 4

²⁶Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.+ ²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?+

Saying 5

²⁸Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.+

Saying 6

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.+