Proverbs 22

A good name is better than riches

A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.a ²The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.b ³The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.c

⁴The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life.d 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.e

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.f ⁹A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.g

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.h ¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.i

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.

The sayings of the wise

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? 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.j

²⁴Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,k ²⁵or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.l 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? ²⁸Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed. 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.m