Proverbs 20:1-30

  • Wine is a ridiculer (1)

  • The lazy do not plow in winter (4)

  • A man’s thoughts like deep waters (5)

  • Warning against vowing hastily (25)

  • Young men’s glory their strength (29)

20  Wine is a ridiculer,+ alcohol is unruly;+Whoever goes astray by them is not wise.+  2  The terror* of a king is like the growling of a lion;*+Whoever provokes his anger risks his own life.+  3  It is honorable for a man to refrain from a dispute,+But every fool will become embroiled in it.+  4  The lazy one does not plow in winter,So he will be begging during the harvest when he has nothing.*+  5  The thoughts* of a man’s heart are like deep waters,But the discerning man draws them out.  6  Many men proclaim their loyal love,But who can find a faithful man?  7  The righteous one is walking in his integrity.+ Happy are his children* who come after him.+  8  When the king sits on the throne to judge,+He sifts out all evil with his eyes.+  9  Who can say: “I have cleansed my heart;+I am pure from my sin”?+ 10  Dishonest weights and false measures*—Both are detestable to Jehovah.+ 11  Even a child* is known by his actions,Whether his behavior is pure and right.+ 12  The hearing ear and the seeing eye—Jehovah has made both of them.+ 13  Do not love sleep, or you will come to poverty.+ Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.+ 14  “It is no good, it is no good!” says the buyer;Then he goes away and boasts about himself.+ 15  There is gold, also much coral,*But the lips of knowledge are something precious.+ 16  Take a man’s garment if he has given security for a stranger;+Seize the pledge from him if he did so for a foreign woman.*+ 17  Bread gained by deceit tastes good to a man,But afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.+ 18  By consultation,* plans will succeed,*+And by skillful direction* wage your war.+ 19  A slanderer goes about revealing confidential talk;+Do not associate with one who loves to gossip.* 20  Whoever curses his father and his mother,His lamp will be extinguished when darkness comes.+ 21  An inheritance obtained first by greedWill not be a blessing in the end.+ 22  Do not say: “I will pay back evil!”+ Hope in Jehovah,+ and he will save you.+ 23  Dishonest weights* are detestable to Jehovah,And deceptive scales are not good. 24  A man’s footsteps are directed by Jehovah;+How can a man understand his own way?* 25  It is a snare for a man to cry out rashly, “Holy!”+ And only later to give consideration to what he vowed.+ 26  A wise king sifts out the wicked+And drives the threshing wheel over them.+ 27  The breath of a man is the lamp of Jehovah,Searching through his innermost being. 28  Loyal love and faithfulness safeguard the king;+By loyal love he sustains his throne.+ 29  The glory of young men is their strength,+And the splendor of old men is their gray hair.+ 30  Bruises and wounds purge* away evil,+And beatings cleanse one’s innermost being.

Footnotes

Or “fearsomeness.”
Or “a maned young lion.”
Or possibly, “He will look during the harvest but find nothing.”
Or “intentions.” Lit., “counsel.”
Lit., “sons.”
Or “Two different stone weights and two different measuring containers.”
Or “boy.”
Or “a foreigner.”
Or “counsel.”
Or “be made firm.”
Or “wise guidance.”
Or “who entices with his lips.”
Or “Two different stone weights.”
Or “the way to go?”
Or “scour.”