Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Child, have you sinned? Do it no more, and pray about your past sins.
2| Run from wrongdoing as you would shy away when a snake appears, for if you draw near it, it will bite you; its fangs are a lion's fangs, destroying the souls of men.
3| All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword; for its wound there is no healing.
4| Terror and insolence will lay waste wealth; so too the house of the arrogant will be laid waste.
5| The prayer of the poor goes from his mouth to God's ears, and judgment on his behalf comes quickly.
6| Whoever hates rebuke walks in the sinner's track, but whoever fears the Lord turns back in his heart.
7| The one mighty in speech is known from afar, but the sensible man knows when he stumbles.
8| He who builds his house with other people's money is like one gathering stones for his own winter grave.
9| A gathering of the lawless is like tow bundled together, and their end is a flame of fire.
10| The way of sinners is paved smooth with stones, but at its end lies the pit of Hades.
11| Whoever keeps the law masters his own understanding, and reverence for the Lord, brought to completion, is wisdom.
12| He who is not shrewd will not be instructed; there is a shrewdness that multiplies bitterness.
13| The knowledge of the wise will rise up as waters swell in a flood, and his counsel resembles a spring of life.
14| What fills a fool inside resembles a shattered jar, and he will hold no knowledge at all.
15| If a discerning man hears a wise saying, he will praise it and add to it; the self-indulgent man hears it, and it displeases him, and he casts it behind his back.
16| The telling of a fool is like a burden on the road, but on the lips of the understanding man grace will be found.
17| The speech of the prudent is sought after in the assembly, and his words are pondered in the heart.
18| Wisdom stands to a fool as a ruined house stands empty, and whatever the senseless man knows is only talk that will not bear scrutiny.
19| Discipline is fetters on the feet of the foolish, and like handcuffs upon the right hand.
20| The fool raises his voice in laughter, but the shrewd man will scarcely smile quietly.
21| To the prudent man discipline is a golden ornament, comparable to a bracelet worn on the right arm.
22| The foot of the fool rushes into a house, but the man of much experience will be abashed before its face.
23| A senseless man peers in at the house from the doorway, but a man of discipline will stand outside.
24| It is a want of discipline for a man to listen at the door, but the prudent man will be burdened by the disgrace of it.
25| The lips of strangers will be burdened with such talk, but the words of the prudent will be weighed on a scale.
26| Fools carry their heart on their tongue, but the wise keep their tongue within the heart.
27| When the ungodly man curses his adversary, he curses his own soul.
28| The whisperer defiles his own soul, and will be hated wherever he dwells.