Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| A wise judge will train his people, and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered.
2| As the judge of a people is, so are his officers, and as the ruler of a city is, so are all its inhabitants.
3| An untrained king will destroy his people, but a city will be built up by the good sense of its rulers.
4| The authority over the earth is in the Lord's hand, and he raises up the useful man for the time over it.
5| In the Lord's hand is a man's success, and it is he who confers honor on the scribe.
6| For every wrong done to you do not bear a grudge against your neighbor, and do nothing at all in acts of arrogance.
7| Arrogance is hateful before the Lord and before men, and from both sides it will commit injustices.
8| A kingdom is transferred from one nation to another because of injustice and acts of arrogance and money.
9| Why is earth and ashes proud? Because even in life I have cast out my own inward parts.
10| A long illness — the physician jokes about it; and a king today, and tomorrow he will die.
11| For when a man dies he will inherit creeping things and wild beasts, and worms.
12| The beginning of a man's pride is that he stands apart from the Lord, and his heart has withdrawn from the one who made him.
13| For the beginning of pride is sin, and the one who holds fast to it will pour forth abomination. For this reason the Lord has made their calamities extraordinary, and has utterly overthrown them;
14| the Lord has thrown down the thrones of rulers, and seated the gentle in their place;
15| the Lord has torn up the roots of nations, and planted the humble in their place;
16| the Lord has overturned the lands of nations, and razed them down to their very foundations;
17| he dried some of them up and destroyed them, and made their memory cease from the earth.
18| Pride was not created for human beings, nor fierce anger for those born of women.
19| What kind of seed is honored? The seed of man. What kind of seed is honored? Those who fear the Lord. What kind of seed is dishonored? The seed of man. What kind of seed is dishonored? Those who transgress the commandments.
20| Among brothers, their leader is honored, and those who fear the Lord are honored in his eyes.
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22| The rich man and the honored man and the poor man — their boast is the fear of the Lord.
23| It is not right to dishonor a poor man of understanding, nor is it fitting to honor a sinful man.
24| The great man and the judge and the ruler will be honored, but none of them is greater than the one who fears the Lord.
25| Free men will serve a wise servant, and a man of understanding will not grumble.
26| Do not be clever in doing your work, and do not glorify yourself in a time of hardship.
27| Better is the man who works and abounds in all things than one who goes about boasting yet lacks bread.
28| My child, in gentleness glorify your own soul, and give it honor according to its worth.
29| Who will justify the one who sins against his own soul? And who will honor the one who dishonors his own life?
30| A poor man is honored for his understanding, and a rich man is honored for his wealth.
31| But the one who is honored in poverty — how much more in wealth! And the one who is dishonored in wealth — how much more in poverty!