Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| A drunken laborer will not grow rich; whoever despises small things will fall little by little.
2| Wine and women lead the discerning astray, and whoever clings to prostitutes becomes reckless.
3| Rot and worms will inherit him, and the reckless soul will be swept away.
4| Whoever is quick to trust is light-minded, and whoever sins wrongs his own soul.
5| Whoever delights in his heart's desires will be condemned,
6| but whoever hates gossip lessens his own wickedness.
7| Never repeat a report, and nothing will be lost to you at all.
8| Tell it neither to friend nor to enemy, and unless it is a sin for you, do not reveal it;
9| for he has heard you and taken note of you, and in due time he will hate you.
10| Have you heard a word? Let it die with you. Take courage—it will not burst you.
11| A fool is in labor over a report, like a woman giving birth to a child.
12| Like an arrow lodged in the flesh of the thigh, so is a report in the belly of a fool.
13| Question a friend—perhaps he did not do it; and if he did do it, so that he may not do it again.
14| Question a friend—perhaps he did not say it; and if he has said it, so that he may not say it again.
15| Question a friend, for often it is slander, and do not believe every report.
16| There is one who slips and not from the soul, and who has not sinned with his tongue?
17| Question your neighbor before you threaten him, and make room for the law of the Most High.
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20| All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom is the doing of the law.
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22| And the knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom, and where the counsel of sinners is, there is no prudence.
23| There is a wickedness that is an abomination, and there is a fool who is lacking in wisdom.
24| Better is one who lacks understanding but fears, than one who abounds in prudence but transgresses the law.
25| There is a cleverness that is exact, and it is unjust, and there is one who twists things in order to bring out a judgment.
26| There is one who does evil while bowed down in gloom, and his inward parts are full of deceit;
27| bowing his face and feigning deafness, he will get ahead of you where he is not known;
28| and if for lack of strength he is kept from sinning, should he find the occasion, he will do harm.
29| A man will be recognized by his appearance, and a sensible man will be recognized when you meet him face to face;
30| a man's attire and the laughter of his teeth and his gait proclaim what he is.