Proverbs 24
24
1Don’t envy evil people
or try to be friends with them.
2Their minds are always planning violence,
and they always talk about making trouble.
3It takes wisdom to have a good family,
and it takes understanding to make it strong.
4It takes knowledge to fill a home
with rare and beautiful treasures.
5Wise people have great power,
and those with knowledge have great strength.
6So you need advice when you go to war.
If you have lots of good advice, you will win.
7Foolish people cannot understand wisdom.
They have nothing to say in a discussion.
8Whoever makes evil plans
will be known as a troublemaker.
9Making foolish plans is sinful,
and making fun of wisdom is hateful.
10If you give up when trouble comes,
it shows that you are weak.
11Save those who are being led to their death;
rescue those who are about to be killed.
12If you say, “We don’t know anything about this,”
God, who knows what’s in your mind, will notice.
He is watching you, and he will know.
He will reward each person for what he has done.
13My child, eat honey because it is good.
Honey from the honeycomb tastes sweet.
14In the same way, wisdom is pleasing to you.
If you find it, you have hope for the future,
and your wishes will come true.
15Don’t be wicked and attack a good family’s house;
don’t rob the place where they live.
16Even though good people may be bothered by trouble seven times, they are never defeated,
but the wicked are overwhelmed by trouble.
17Don’t be happy when your enemy is defeated;
don’t be glad when he is overwhelmed.
18The Lord will notice and be displeased.
He may not be angry with them anymore.
19Don’t envy evil people,
and don’t be jealous of the wicked.
20An evil person has nothing to hope for;
the wicked will die like a flame that is put out.
21My child, respect the Lord and the king.
Don’t join those people who refuse to obey them.
22The Lord and the king will quickly destroy such people.
Those two can cause great disaster!
More Words of Wisdom
23These are also sayings of the wise:
It is not good to take sides when you are the judge.
24Don’t tell the wicked that they are innocent;
people will curse you, and nations will hate you.
25But things will go well if you punish the guilty,
and you will receive rich blessings.
26An honest answer is as pleasing
as a kiss on the lips.
27First, finish your outside work
and prepare your fields.
After that, you can build your house.
28Don’t testify against your neighbor for no good reason.
Don’t say things that are false.
29Don’t say, “I’ll get even;
I’ll do to him what he did to me.”
30I passed by a lazy person’s field
and by the vineyard of someone with no sense.
31Thorns had grown up everywhere.
The ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone walls had fallen down.
32I thought about what I had seen;
I learned this lesson from what I saw.
33You sleep a little; you take a nap.
You fold your hands and lie down to rest.
34Soon you will be as poor as if you had been robbed;
you will have as little as if you had been held up.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 24
24
1Be not thou envious against evil men;
Neither desire to be with them:
2For their heart studieth oppression,
And their lips talk of mischief.
3Through wisdom is a house builded;
And by understanding it is established;
4And by knowledge are the chambers filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
5A wise man is strong;
Yea, a man of knowledge increaseth might.
6For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war;
And in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
7Wisdom is too high for a fool:
He openeth not his mouth in the gate.
8He that deviseth to do evil,
Men shall call him a mischief-maker.
9The thought of foolishness is sin;
And the scoffer is an abomination to men.
10If thou faint in the day of adversity,
Thy strength is small.
11Deliver them that are carried away unto death,
And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
12If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this;
Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it?
And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?
And shall not he render to every man according to his work?
13My son, eat thou honey, for it is good;
And the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to thy taste:
14So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul;
If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward,
And thy hope shall not be cut off.
15Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous;
Destroy not his resting-place:
16For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again;
But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
17Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,
And let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown;
18Lest Jehovah see it, and it displease him,
And he turn away his wrath from him.
19Fret not thyself because of evil-doers;
Neither be thou envious at the wicked:
20For there shall be no reward to the evil man;
The lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
21My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king;
And company not with them that are given to change:
22For their calamity shall rise suddenly;
And the destruction from them both, who knoweth it?
23These also are sayings of the wise.
To have respect of persons in judgment is not good.
24He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous,
Peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him;
25But to them that rebuke him shall be delight,
And a good blessing shall come upon them.
26He kisseth the lips
Who giveth a right answer.
27Prepare thy work without,
And make it ready for thee in the field;
And afterwards build thy house.
28Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause;
And deceive not with thy lips.
29Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me;
I will render to the man according to his work.
30I went by the field of the sluggard,
And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
31And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
The face thereof was covered with nettles,
And the stone wall thereof was broken down.
32Then I beheld, and considered well;
I saw, and received instruction:
33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep;
34So shall thy poverty come as a robber,
And thy want as an armed man.
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