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Silence and Speech

20There is a rebuke that is untimely,
   and there is the person who is wise enough to keep silent.
² How much better it is to rebuke than to fume!
³ And one who admits his fault will be kept from failure.
⁴ Like a eunuch lusting to violate a girl
   is the person who does right under compulsion.
⁵ Some people keep silent and are thought to be wise,
   while others are detested for being talkative.
⁶ Some people keep silent because they have nothing to say,
   while others keep silent because they know when to speak.
⁷ The wise remain silent until the right moment,
   but a boasting fool misses the right moment.
⁸ Whoever talks too much is detested,
   and whoever pretends to authority is hated.^*

Paradoxes

⁹ There may be good fortune for a person in adversity,
   but a windfall may result in a loss.
¹⁰ There is the gift that profits you nothing,
   and the gift to be paid back double.
¹¹ There are losses for the sake of glory,
   and there are some who have raised their heads from humble circumstances.
¹² Some buy much for little,
   but pay for it seven times over.
¹³ The wise make themselves beloved by only few words,^*
   but the courtesies of fools are wasted.
¹⁴ A fool’s gift will profit you nothing,^*
   for he looks for recompense sevenfold.^*
15 He gives little and upbraids much;
   he opens his mouth like a town crier.
Today he lends and tomorrow he asks for it back;
   such a one is hateful to God and humans.^*
16 The fool says, ‘I have no friends,
   and I get no thanks for my good deeds.
   Those who eat my bread are evil-tongued.’
¹⁷ How many will ridicule him, and how often!^*

Inappropriate Speech

¹⁸ A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue;
   the downfall of the wicked will occur just as speedily.
¹⁹ A coarse person is like an inappropriate story
   continually on the lips of the ignorant.
²⁰ A proverb from a fool’s lips will be rejected,
   for he does not tell it at the proper time.

²¹ One may be prevented from sinning by poverty;
   so when he rests he feels no remorse.
²² One may lose his life through shame,
   or lose it because of human respect.^*
23 Another out of shame makes promises to a friend,
   and so makes an enemy for nothing.

Lying

²⁴ A lie is an ugly blot on a person;
   it is continually on the lips of the ignorant.
²⁵ A thief is preferable to a habitual liar,
   but the lot of both is ruin.
²⁶ A liar’s way leads to disgrace,
   and his shame is ever with him.

Proverbial Sayings ^*

²⁷ The wise person advances himself by his words,
   and one who is sensible pleases the great.
²⁸ Those who cultivate the soil heap up their harvest,
   and those who please the great atone for injustice.
²⁹ Favours and gifts blind the eyes of the wise;
   like a muzzle on the mouth they stop reproofs.
³⁰ Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure,
   of what value is either?
³¹ Better are those who hide their folly
   than those who hide their wisdom.^*