Proverbs 24
24
Intelligence Outranks Muscle
19
1-2Don’t envy bad people;
don’t even want to be around them.
All they think about is causing a disturbance;
all they talk about is making trouble.
20
3-4It takes wisdom to build a house,
and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.
21
5-6It’s better to be wise than strong;
intelligence outranks muscle any day.
Strategic planning is the key to warfare;
to win, you need a lot of good counsel.
22
7Wise conversation is way over the head of fools;
in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.
23
8-9The person who’s always cooking up some evil
soon gets a reputation as prince of rogues.
Fools incubate sin;
cynics desecrate beauty.
Rescue the Perishing
24
10If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
there wasn’t much to you in the first place.
25
11-12Rescue the perishing;
don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
26
13-14Eat honey, dear child—it’s good for you—
and delicacies that melt in your mouth.
Likewise knowledge,
and wisdom for your soul—
Get that and your future’s secured,
your hope is on solid rock.
27
15-16Don’t interfere with good people’s lives;
don’t try to get the best of them.
No matter how many times you trip them up,
God-loyal people don’t stay down long;
Soon they’re up on their feet,
while the wicked end up flat on their faces.
28
17-18Don’t laugh when your enemy falls;
don’t gloat over his collapse.
God might see, and become very provoked,
and then take pity on his plight.
29
19-20Don’t bother your head with braggarts
or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
Those people have no future at all;
they’re headed down a dead-end street.
30
21-22Fear God, dear child—respect your leaders;
don’t be defiant or mutinous.
Without warning your life can turn upside down,
and who knows how or when it might happen?
More Sayings of the Wise
An Honest Answer
23It’s wrong, very wrong,
to go along with injustice.
24-25Whoever whitewashes the wicked
gets a black mark in the history books,
But whoever exposes the wicked
will be thanked and rewarded.
26An honest answer
is like a warm hug.
27First plant your fields;
then build your barn.
28-29Don’t talk about your neighbors behind their backs—
no slander or gossip, please.
Don’t say to anyone, “I’ll get back at you for what you did to me.
I’ll make you pay for what you did!”
30-34One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones,
and then passed the vineyard of a slob;
They were overgrown with weeds,
thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.
I took a long look and pondered what I saw;
the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:
“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,
with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”
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Proverbs 24: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Proverbs 24
24
1Don’t envy the evil#Ps 37:1; Pr 23:17; 24:19
or desire to be with them,#Ps 1:1; Pr 1:15
2for their hearts plan violence,
and their words stir up trouble.#Ps 10:7
3A house is built by wisdom,#Pr 14:1
and it is established by understanding;
4by knowledge the rooms are filled
with every precious and beautiful treasure.
5A wise warrior is better than a strong one,#24:5 LXX, Syr; MT reads is in strength
and a man of knowledge than one of strength;#24:5 LXX, Syr, Tg; MT reads knowledge exerts strength#Pr 21:22
6for you should wage war with sound guidance —
victory comes with many counselors.#Pr 11:14; 15:22; 20:18
7Wisdom is inaccessible to#24:7 Lit is too high for a fool;#Pr 14:6; 17:16,24
he does not open his mouth at the city gate.#Jb 5:4; Ps 127:5
8The one who plots evil#Rm 1:30
will be called a schemer.
9A foolish scheme is sin,
and a mocker is detestable to people.
10If you do nothing in a difficult time,
your strength is limited.
11Rescue those being taken off to death,
and save those stumbling toward slaughter.#Ps 82:4; Is 58:6–7
12If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,”
won’t he who weighs hearts#1Sm 16:7; Ps 44:21; Pr 21:2 consider it?
Won’t he who protects your life#Ps 121:3–8 know?
Won’t he repay a person according to his work?#Jb 34:11; Ps 62:12
13Eat honey,#Pr 25:16 my son, for it is good,
and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;#Sg 5:1
14realize that wisdom is the same for you.#Ps 19:10; 119:103
If you find it, you will have a future,
and your hope will never fade.#Pr 10:28; 23:18; Jr 29:11
15Don’t set an ambush, you wicked one,
at the camp of the righteous man;#Pr 10:9–10
don’t destroy his dwelling.
16Though a righteous person falls seven times,
he will get up,#Jb 5:19; Ps 37:24
but the wicked will stumble into ruin.#Pr 14:32; 29:16
17Don’t gloat when your enemy falls,
and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,#Ps 35:15,19; Pr 17:5; Ob 12; Mc 7:8
18or the Lord will see, be displeased,
and turn his wrath away from him.
19Don’t be agitated by evildoers,
and don’t envy the wicked.#Ps 37:1; Pr 23:17; 24:1
20For the evil have no future;#Ps 37:38; Pr 14:11; 16:25
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.#2Sm 21:17; Jb 18:5; 21:17; Pr 13:9; 20:20
21My son, fear the Lord, as well as the king,#Mt 22:21; Rm 13:1–7; 1Pt 2:13–14,17
and don’t associate with rebels,#24:21 Or those given to change
22for destruction will come suddenly from them;
who knows what distress these two can bring?
23These sayings also belong to the wise:#Pr 1:6; 22:17
It is not good to show partiality in judgment.#Dt 1:17; 16:19; Pr 18:5; 28:21
24Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”#Pr 17:15 —
peoples will curse him,#Pr 11:26 and nations will denounce him;
25but it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
and a generous blessing will come to them.
26He who gives an honest answer
gives a kiss on the lips.
27Complete your outdoor work, and prepare your field;#Pr 20:4
afterward, build your house.
28Don’t testify against your neighbor without cause.#Ex 20:16; Pr 25:18
Don’t deceive with your lips.
29Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me;
I’ll repay the man for what he has done.”#Dt 32:35; Pr 20:22; Mt 5:39; Rm 12:17,19
30I went by the field of a slacker
and by the vineyard of one lacking sense.
31Thistles had come up everywhere,
weeds covered the ground,#Gn 3:18; Pr 20:4
and the stone wall was ruined.
32I saw, and took it to heart;
I looked, and received instruction:
33a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
34and your poverty will come like a robber,
and your need, like a bandit.#Pr 6:10–11; 20:13
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