¹ A wise magistrate will educate his people, and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered.

² Like the magistrate of the people, so are his officials; and like the ruler of the city, so are all its inhabitants.

³ An uneducated king will ruin his people, but a city will grow through the understanding of its rulers.

⁴ Authority over the land is in the hands of the Lord, and over it he will raise up the right man for the time.

⁵ The success of a man is in the hands of the Lord, and he confers his honour upon the face of the scribe.

Sin of Pride

⁶ Do not be angry with your neighbour for every injury and do not attempt anything by acts of insolence.

⁷ Arrogance is hateful before the Lord and before people, and injustice is out of tune to both.

⁸ Sovereignty passes from nation to nation on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.

⁹ Why would dust and ash act arrogantly? For even in life his bowels decay.

¹⁰ A long illness baffles the physician; the king of today will die tomorrow.

¹¹ For when a man is dead, he will inherit creeping things and wild beasts and worms.

¹² The beginning of a person’s pride is to depart from the Lord; his heart has forsaken his Maker.

¹³ For the beginning of pride is sin, and the man who clings to it will pour out abominations. Therefore the Lord brought upon them extraordinary afflictions and destroyed them utterly.

¹⁴ The Lord has cast down the thrones of rulers and has seated the lowly in their place.

¹⁵ The Lord has plucked up the roots of the nations and has planted the humble in their place.

¹⁶ The Lord has overthrown the lands of the nations and has destroyed them to the foundations of the earth.

¹⁷ He has removed some of them and destroyed them and has extinguished the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁸ Pride was not created for human beings, nor fierce anger for those born of women.

Persons Deserving Honour

¹⁹ What race is worthy of honour? The human race. What race is worthy of honour? Those who fear the Lord. What race is unworthy of honour? The human race. What race is unworthy of honour? Those who transgress the commandments.

²⁰ Among brothers their leader is worthy of honour, and those who fear the Lord are worthy of honour in his eyes.

²² The rich and the eminent and the poor— their boast is the fear of the Lord.

²³ It is not right to despise an intelligent poor man, nor is it proper to honour a sinful man.

²⁴ The nobleman and the judge and the ruler will be honoured, but none of them is greater than the one who fears the Lord.

²⁵ Free persons will be at the service of a wise servant, and a man of understanding will not grumble.

Humility

²⁶ Do not make a display of your wisdom when you do your work or glorify yourself at a time when you are in want.

²⁷ Better is a man who works and has an abundance of everything  than one who goes about boasting, but lacks bread.

²⁸ My son, glorify your soul with humility and ascribe to yourself honour according to your worth.

²⁹ Who will justify the person who sins against him self? And who will honour the man who dishonours his own life?

³⁰ A poor man is honoured for his knowledge, while a rich man is honoured for his wealth.

³¹ A man honoured in poverty, how much more in wealth! And a man dishonoured in wealth, how much more in poverty!