Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Wisdom lifts up the head of the lowly, and seats him among the great.
2| Do not praise a man for his good looks, and do not despise a man for his appearance.
3| Small among winged things is the bee, yet her fruit is the best of sweet things.
4| Do not boast of the clothes you wear, and do not exalt yourself on a day of glory; for what the Lord accomplishes is astonishing, and his doings stay concealed from mankind.
5| Many tyrants have sat upon the ground, but one no one expected has worn the crown.
6| Many rulers have been utterly disgraced, and the honored have been handed over into the hands of others.
7| Before you examine, do not find fault; consider first, and only then reproach.
8| Before you have listened, do not answer, and do not break in on a conversation.
9| Do not dispute about a matter that is no concern of yours, and do not sit in judgment with sinners.
10| Child, do not let your undertakings be many; if you multiply them you will not go unpunished, and if you chase after them you will never overtake them, and by fleeing you will never escape.
11| There is a man who toils and labors and hurries, and all the more he falls behind.
12| There is a man who is sluggish and needs help, lacking in strength and abounding in poverty; yet the Lord's eyes turned toward him with favor, and raised him up out of his low estate,
13| and lifted up his head, so that many were astonished at him.
14| Good things and bad, life and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.
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17| The gift of the Lord remains with the godly, and his favor prospers forever.
18| There is a man who grows rich through his watchfulness and his stinginess, and this is the reward he gets for it:
19| when he says, I have found rest, and now I will feast on my goods — he does not know how much time will pass before he leaves them to others and dies.
20| Stand by your covenant and hold fast to it, and grow old at your work.
21| Do not marvel at the deeds of a sinner; trust in the Lord and persevere in your labor, for it is easy in the eyes of the Lord to enrich a poor man suddenly, in an instant.
22| The blessing of the Lord is the reward of the godly, and in a swift hour he makes his blessing flourish.
23| Do not say, What need have I, and what good things will now be mine?
24| Do not say, I have enough, and what harm can come to me now?
25| In the day of good things there is forgetfulness of troubles, and in the day of troubles a man no longer remembers good things;
26| for it costs the Lord nothing, when a man dies, to pay him back according to how he lived.
27| A time of trouble makes one forget past delight, and at a man's end his deeds are laid bare.
28| Before death, call no one blessed, for by his children a man is known.
29| Do not bring every man into your house, for many are the schemes of the treacherous man.
30| Like a decoy partridge shut inside a cage, that is what the proud man's heart is like, and like a spy he watches for your downfall.
31| For he lies in wait, turning good into evil, and he will fasten blame even on what you choose.
32| From a single spark a great pile of embers catches fire, and a man given to sin lies in wait for blood.
33| Beware of a villain, for he is forging mischief, lest he bring lasting disgrace upon you.
34| Take a stranger into your house, and he will overturn you with turmoil and estrange you from your own household.