Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| No evil will meet the one who fears the Lord, but in trial he will be rescued again.
2| A wise man will not hate the law, but the one who is a hypocrite toward it is like a boat in a storm.
3| A sensible man will trust the law, and the law is faithful to him like an oracle from the Urim.
4| Prepare your speech and so you will be heard; bind up your instruction and give your answer.
5| The gut of a fool is like a cart's wheel, and his reasoning turns like an axle.
6| A stallion in heat is like a mocking friend — it neighs under whoever sits on it.
7| Why does one day surpass another, when all the daylight of the year comes from the sun?
8| By the Lord's knowledge they were distinguished, and he made the seasons and feasts different from one another;
9| some of them he exalted and made holy, and some of them he set among ordinary days.
10| And every human being comes from soil, since Adam was formed out of dust;
11| but in the fullness of his understanding the Lord distinguished them, and made their ways different.
12| Some among them he favored and lifted up, sanctifying them and drawing them close to himself; others he condemned and humbled, casting them down from their place.
13| Like clay in a potter's hand, all its ways according to his good pleasure, so men are in the hand of him who made them, to repay them according to his judgment.
14| Opposite evil stands good, and opposite death, life; so opposite the godly man stands the sinner.
15| And in just this way look at all the works of the Most High: two by two, one set against the other.
16| And I, coming last, have kept watch, like one who gleans after the grape-gatherers.
17| Have mercy on your people, Lord, called by your name, and on Israel, whom you have made like a firstborn son.
18| Have compassion on the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the city of your resting place.
19| Fill Zion with the telling of your mighty deeds, and your people with your glory.
20| Give testimony to those who were your creatures from the beginning, and raise up the prophecies spoken in your name.
21| Give a reward to those who wait for you, and let your prophets be found trustworthy.
22| Hear, Lord, the prayer of your suppliants, according to the blessing of Aaron over your people, and let all who are on the earth know that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.
23| The stomach will eat any food, yet there is food that is better than other food.
24| The palate tastes the meats of the hunt; so a discerning heart tastes false words.
25| A crooked heart will bring grief, but a man of much experience will pay it back.
26| A woman will take any man, but one daughter is better than another daughter.
27| A woman's beauty makes the face bright, and surpasses every desire of man.
28| If there is on her tongue kindness and gentleness, her husband is beyond the common lot of men.
29| He who acquires a wife acquires the best of possessions, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support.
30| Where there is no fence, property will be plundered; and where there is no wife, a man wanders about and groans.
31| For who will trust a nimble robber that slips from city to city? So it is with a man who has no nest, who lodges wherever night finds him.