Various Sins

¹ Child, have you sinned? Do not add more, but pray about your former sins.

² Flee from sin as from a snake; for if you approach sin, it will bite you. Its teeth are lion’s teeth, destroying human souls.

³ All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword; there is no healing for its wound.

⁴ Panic and insolence will lay waste riches; thus the house of the proud will be laid waste.

⁵ The prayer of a poor man goes from his lips to the ears of God, and his judgement comes speedily.

⁶ Whoever hates reproof walks in the steps of the sinner, but the one who fears the Lord will repent in his heart.

⁷ He who is mighty in speech is known from afar; but the sensible person, when he slips, is aware of it.

⁸ A person who builds his house with other people’s money is like one who gathers stones for his burial mound.

⁹ An assembly of the wicked is like tow gathered together, and their end is a flame of fire.

¹⁰ The way of sinners is smoothly paved with stones, but at its end is the pit of Hades.

Wisdom and Foolishness

¹¹ Whoever keeps the law controls his thoughts, and wisdom is the fulfilment of the fear of the Lord.

¹² He who is not clever will not be taught, but there is a cleverness that increases bitterness.

¹³ The knowledge of a wise man will increase like a flood, and his counsel like a flowing spring.

¹⁴ The mind of a fool is like a broken jar; it will hold no knowledge.

¹⁵ When a man of understanding hears a wise saying, he will praise it and add to it; the self-indulgent person heard it and disliked it and cast it behind his back.

¹⁶ A fool’s narration is like a burden on a journey, but grace will be found in the speech of the intelligent.

¹⁷ The utterance of a sensible man will be sought in the assembly, and they will ponder his words in their hearts.

¹⁸ Like a house that has vanished, so is wisdom to a fool; and the knowledge of the ignorant is unexamined talk.

¹⁹ Education is like fetters on the feet of a senseless person and like manacles on his right hand.

²⁰ A fool raises his voice when he laughs, but a clever man will at most smile quietly.

²¹ Education is like a golden ornament to a sensible person and like a bracelet on the right arm.

²² The foot of a fool rushes into a house, but a man of experience stands respectfully before it.

²³ A boor peers into the house from the door, but a cultivated man remains outside.

²⁴ It is ill-mannered for a person to listen at a door, and a person of sense is grieved by the disgrace.

²⁵ The lips of strangers will speak of these things, but the words of the prudent will be weighed in the balance.

²⁶ The heart of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of wise people is in their heart.

²⁷ When an ungodly man curses his adversary, he curses his own soul.

²⁸ A whisperer defiles his own soul and is hated in his neighbourhood.