A Good Name
1A good name is to be chosen above great riches, and favor above silver and gold. 2The rich and the poor meet together; Yahweh is the Maker of them all. 3The shrewd man sees trouble and hides himself; the simple walk on and pay for it. 4The reward of humility and the fear of Yahweh is riches and honor and life. 5Thorns and snares lie on the way of the crooked; whoever guards his life stays far from them. 6Train a boy in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not turn from it. 7The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. 8Whoever sows injustice reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will fail. 9The generous eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. 10Drive out the scoffer and strife goes out with him; disputes and insults come to an end. 11Whoever loves a pure heart and speaks with grace will have the king for a friend. 12The eyes of Yahweh watch over knowledge, and he overturns the words of the treacherous. 13The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the squares.” 14The mouth of women who are not yours is a deep pit; the man Yahweh has cursed falls into it. 15Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. 16Whoever oppresses the poor to enrich himself, and whoever gives to the rich—both come only to want.
The Words of the Wise
17Turn your ear and hear the words of the wise, and set your heart on what I know. 18It is a pleasant thing to keep them within you, to have them ready together on your lips. 19So that your trust may be in Yahweh, I am making them known to you today—yes, to you. 20Have I not written you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, 21to teach you what is true and certain, so that you can bring back a true report to the one who sent you? 22Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, 23for Yahweh will plead their case and rob of life those who rob them. 24Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, and do not go about with a man of fury, 25or you will learn his ways and take a snare for your own life. 26Do not be one of those who strike hands, who put up security for debts. 27If you have nothing to pay with, why should your bed be taken from under you? 28Do not move the ancient boundary stone that your fathers set up. 29Have you seen a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
