Proverbs 20

¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

¹¹to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.

⁷These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,

²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

¹²A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

⁴If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.

²³Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life.

³⁶But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

¹⁰They will walk after the Lord; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west.

⁸The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken—who will not prophesy?

³²He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.

¹⁴To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.

¹¹A man’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.

³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

²⁹A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.

⁶A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.

⁴Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

⁴The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

²⁴Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’

³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take along any extra oil.

⁴But the wise ones took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;

⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

⁴The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

⁶They devise injustice and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.

¹For the choirmaster. According to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. Help, O Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

²So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

⁸I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

³³“Lord,” said Peter, “I am ready to go with You even to prison and to death.”

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips.

¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.

²His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

²⁶They are ever generous and quick to lend, and their children are a blessing.

³⁹I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

¹²For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

³⁹This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

³For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk.

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

¹⁴A king who judges the poor with fairness—his throne will be established forever.

⁴The mighty King loves justice. You have established equity; You have exercised justice and righteousness in Jacob.

⁹For surely Your enemies, O Lord, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.

¹Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.

²⁰Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

⁴⁶When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

⁴Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

¹⁴What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

²We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

²³Unequal weights are detestable to the Lord, and dishonest scales are no good.

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.

¹¹Honest scales and balances are from the Lord; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

³⁵You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume.

¹³You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.

¹⁴You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small.

¹⁰Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?

¹¹Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

⁴³No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

⁴⁴For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.

⁸The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁴⁶Finally, after three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers.

⁵Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

¹⁴In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

⁹He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?

¹⁸Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹¹Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

¹¹And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

¹¹The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.

⁴Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

⁶and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.

¹¹For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.

¹²Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

¹⁶How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

¹⁴How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?

¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

¹³Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

²⁶If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,

²⁷because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

²⁶Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

¹⁵He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.

⁵that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

¹⁰Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

⁹Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹²Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

¹³though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.

²⁵He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

³¹Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

⁶Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

¹After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”

²“Judah shall go up,” answered the Lord. “Indeed, I have delivered the land into their hands.”

¹⁴For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.

¹⁸The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” “Judah will be first,” the Lord replied.

¹³A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

³He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

⁸The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.

¹⁶You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

²¹My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.

¹⁷Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.

¹¹There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹⁷As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

¹³They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁶‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

⁸He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

²²A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.

²⁰A faithful man will abound with blessings, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

¹⁵Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”

¹³If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.

⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

³⁵Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

¹⁰Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the Lord.

⁷A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

¹⁰You must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath.

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.

⁵asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

⁹A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

²³I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

¹²Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.

²³The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord who takes delight in his journey.

⁴Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

³³Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’

²If a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.

³And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the Lord or obligates herself by a pledge,

⁹If he vows an animal that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any such animal given to the Lord shall be holy.

¹⁰He must not replace it or exchange it, either good for bad or bad for good. But if he does substitute one animal for another, both that animal and its substitute will be holy.

⁸Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.

⁹You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.

⁷A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸A king who sits on a throne to judge sifts out all evil with his eyes.

³¹David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

⁶My eyes favor the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me.

⁹But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,

¹⁰when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!

²⁷Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Grain for bread must be ground, but it is not endlessly threshed. Though the wheels of the cart roll over it, the horses do not crush it.

¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

¹⁹And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

¹⁵So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them

¹²Wicked behavior is detestable for kings, for a throne is established through righteousness.

¹Of David. Vindicate me, O Lord! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

¹⁴A king who judges the poor with fairness—his throne will be established forever.

¹A Psalm of David. I will sing of Your loving devotion and justice; to You, O Lord, I will sing praises.

⁵in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.

⁷May he sit enthroned in God’s presence forever; appoint Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness to guard him.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.

³²You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

²³This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.

²⁴But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

²⁵Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.

⁵But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

⁹Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.