Proverbs 22

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.1

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.1

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.