1 Better a bit of dry bread, with peace,
than a house full of feasting and strife.
2 A wise slave becomes lord of a profligate son;
he will share the estate with the brothers.
3 Like the smelter for silver, the furnace for gold,
is the Lord who tests the heart.
4 A bad man gives heed to wicked words;
a false man listens to mischievous speech.
5 He that mocks the poor reviles his maker;
he that joys at misfortune will not go unpunished.
6 The crown of old men is children's children,
and the glory of children is their father.
7 On the lips of a fool honest words are unseemly;
much more lying words on the lips of a noble man.
8 A bribe is like a magic stone;
he that offers it prospers wherever he turns.
9 He that covers up wrong seeks love,
but the gossip estranges his friend.
10 A rebuke cuts a wise man more deeply
than a hundred stripes cut a fool.
11 The bad man is bent on playing the rebel;
so a pitiless angel is sent against him.
12 Meet a bear robbed of her whelps
rather than a fool in his folly.
13 Misfortune will haunt the house
of the man who for good returns evil.
14 Strife may be started by idle words;
so give over contention before there is quarrelling.
15 To acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent
are both alike to the Lord detestable.
16 Why does the fool bring a fee
to buy wisdom, when he has no mind?
17 A true friend loves at all times;
a brother is born for adversity.
18 He that gives his hand is a fool —
the man who goes bail for another.
19 He loves wounds who loves strife,
and the man who builds loftily seeks destruction.
20 The false heart finds no good.
and the wily tongue comes to disaster.
21 A man begets a fool to his sorrow;
no joy can there be for the father of a fool.
22 A happy heart is a healthful medicine,
but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
23 The wicked accept a bribe
to deflect the course of justice.
24 The man of good sense has his gaze fixed on wisdom,
but a fool has his eyes at the end of the earth.
25 A foolish son is a grief to his father,
and bitterness to her that bore him.
26 Since it is not right even to fine the innocent,
to scourge men of honour is utterly wrong.
27 He that spares his words is truly wise,
and a cool-tempered man is a man of discretion.
28 Even a fool may, if silent, be taken for wise —
for a man of good sense, if he keeps his lips closed.