- Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house
full of many good things and unjust sacrifices, with strife.
- A wise servant shall have rule over foolish masters, and shall
divide portions among brethren.
- As silver and gold are tried in a furnace, so are choice hearts
with the Lord.
- A bad man hearkens to the tongue of transgressors: but a righteous
man attends not to false lips.
- He that laughs at the poor provokes him that made him; and he that
rejoices at the destruction of another shall not be held guiltless:
but he that has compassion shall find mercy.
- Children's children are the crown of old men; and their fathers
are the glory of children. The faithful has the whole world full of
wealth; but the faithless not even a farthing.
- Faithful lips will not suit a fool; nor lying lips a just man.
- Instruction is to them that use it a gracious reward: and
whithersoever it may turn, it shall prosper.
- He that conceals injuries seeks love; but he that hates to hide
them separates friends and [a]
kindred.
- A threat breaks down the heart of a wise man; but a fool, though
scourged, understands not.
- Every bad man stirs up strifes: but the Lord will send out against
him an unmerciful messenger.
- Care may befall a man of understanding; but fools will meditate
evils.
- Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not be removed from his
house.
- Rightful rule gives power to words; but sedition and strife
precede poverty.
- He that pronounces the unjust just, and the just unjust, is
unclean and abominable with God.
- Why has the fool wealth? for a senseless man will not be able to
purchase wisdom. He that exalts his own house seeks ruin; and he that
turns aside from instruction shall fall into mischiefs.
- Have thou a friend for every time, and let brethren be useful in
distress; for on this account are they born.
- A foolish man applauds and rejoices over himself, as he
also that becomes surety would make himself responsible for his own friends.
- A lover of sin rejoices in strifes;
- and the hard-hearted man [b] comes not
in for good. A man of a changeful tongue will fall into mischiefs;
- and the heart of a fool is grief to its possessor. A father
rejoices not over an uninstructed son; but a wise son gladdens his
mother.
- A glad heart promotes health; but the bones of a sorrowful man dry
up.
- The ways of a man who unjustly receives gifts in his
bosom do not prosper; and an ungodly man perverts the ways of
righteousness.
- The countenance of a wise man is sensible; but the eyes of a fool
go to the ends of the earth.
- A foolish son is a cause of anger to his father, and
grief to her that bore him.
- It is not right to punish a righteous man, nor is
it holy to plot against righteous princes.
- He that forbears to utter a hard word is discreet, and a patient
man is wise.
- Wisdom shall be imputed to a fool who asks after wisdom: and he
who holds his peace shall seem to be sensible.
[a] Comp. Heb.
[b] Or, meets not with good men.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]