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20Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,
and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
²The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion;
anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.
³It is honorable to refrain from strife,
but every fool is quick to quarrel.
⁴The lazy person does not plow in season;
harvest comes, and there is nothing to be found.
⁵The purposes in the human mind are like deep water,
but the intelligent will draw them out.
⁶Many proclaim themselves loyal,
but who can find one worthy of trust?
⁷The righteous walk in integrity—
happy are the children who follow them!
⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment
winnows all evil with his eyes.
⁹Who can say, “I have made my heart clean;
I am pure from my sin”?
¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
¹¹Even children make themselves known by their acts,
by whether what they do is pure and right.
¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye—
the Lord has made them both.
¹³Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty;
open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer,
then goes away and boasts.
¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of costly stones;
but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.
¹⁶Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger;
seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.
¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet,
but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.
¹⁸Plans are established by taking advice;
wage war by following wise guidance.
¹⁹A gossip reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with a babbler.
²⁰If you curse father or mother,
your lamp will go out in utter darkness.
²¹An estate quickly acquired in the beginning
will not be blessed in the end.
²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”;
wait for the Lord, and he will help you.
²³Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.
²⁴All our steps are ordered by the Lord;
how then can we understand our own ways?
²⁵It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,”
and begin to reflect only after making a vow.
²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked,
and drives the wheel over them.
²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord,
searching every inmost part.
²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king,
and his throne is upheld by righteousness.
²⁹The glory of youths is their strength,
but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.
³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
beatings make clean the innermost parts.