Proverbs 20

¹Wine is a luxurious thing, & drunkenness tumultuous: whosoever is delighted therewith shall not be wise.

²As the roaring of a lion, so also the terror of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth also against his own soul.

³It is honour to a man that separateth himself from contentions: but all fools meddle with contumelies.

⁴Because of cold the slothful would not plow: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him.

⁵As deep water, so counsel in the heart of a man: but a wise man shall draw it out.

⁶Many men are called merciful: but a faithful man who shall find?

⁷The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave blessed children.

⁸The king that sitteth in the throne of judgment, dissipateth all evil with his look.

⁹Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?

¹⁰Weight and weight, measure and measure: both are abominable before God.

¹¹By his conversation a child is perceived, if his works be clean and right.

¹²The ear hearing, and the eye seeing, our Lord made both.

¹³Love not sleep, lest poverty oppress thee: open thine eyes and be filled with breads.

¹⁴It is naught, it is naught, saith every buyer: and when he is departed he will boast.

¹⁵There is gold, and multitude of pearls: but a precious vessel the lips of knowledge.

¹⁶Take his garment, that was the surety of a stranger, and for strangers take a pledge from him.

¹⁷The bread of lying is sweet to a man: and afterward his mouth shall be filled with the gravel stone.

¹⁸Cogitations are strengthened by counsels: and battles are to be handled by governments.

¹⁹Meddle not with him that revealeth mysteries, and walketh fraudulently, and dilateth his lips.

²⁰He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be extinguished in the midst of darkness.

²¹The inheritance whereunto haste is made in the beginning, in the later end shall lack blessing.

²²Say not, I will requite evil: expect our Lord, and he will deliver thee.

²³Weight and weight are abomination with our Lord: a deceitful balance is not good.

²⁴The steps of man are directed of our Lord: but who of men can understand his own way?

²⁵It is ruin to a man to devour saints, and afterward to retract the vows.

²⁶A wise king dissipateth the impious, and bendeth over them a triumphant arch.

²⁷The lamp of our Lord, the breath of a man, which searcheth all the secrets of the belly.

²⁸Mercy & truth keep the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency.

²⁹The joy of youngmen their strength: and the dignity of oldmen a gray head.

³⁰The blueness of the wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more secret place of the belly.