Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| If you do good, know to whom you do it, and there will be gratitude for your kindnesses.
2| Do good to the godly, and you will find a reward — if not from him, then from the Most High.
3| No good comes to the one who persists in evil, nor to the one who withholds mercy.
4| Give to the godly, and do not help the sinner.
5| Do good to the humble, but do not give to the ungodly; hold back his bread and do not give it to him, lest by it he gain power over you; for you will find double the evil in return for all the good you do him.
6| For the Most High also hates sinners, and he will repay the ungodly with vengeance.
7| Give to the good man, and do not help the sinner.
8| A friend is not proven in good times, and an enemy is not hidden in bad times.
9| In a man's good times his enemies are grieved, but in his bad times even his friend will part from him.
10| Never trust your enemy, for like bronze rusting, so is his wickedness.
11| And even if he humbles himself and goes about bent low, set your soul on guard and be wary of him, and be to him like one who has wiped a mirror clean, and you will know that it has not rusted through.
12| Do not stand him beside yourself, lest he overturn you and stand in your place; do not seat him at your right hand, lest he seek your seat, and at the last you recognize the truth of my words, and over my sayings you be stung with regret.
13| Who will pity a snake-charmer bitten by the serpent, or any who go near wild beasts?
14| So it is with the one who keeps company with a sinful man and gets mixed up in his sins.
15| For an hour he will stay with you, but if you waver, he will not hold firm.
16| And with his lips the enemy will speak sweetly, but in his heart he schemes to throw you into a pit; with his eyes the enemy will weep, but if he finds the occasion, he will not be satisfied with blood.
17| Should evil come upon you, you will find him there ahead of you, and, as though helping, he will trip up your heel.
18| He will nod his head, strike his palms together, murmur on and on under his breath, and his expression will shift.