Proverbs 20

1 Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and anyone led astray by it is not wise.

2 The terror of a king [is] like the roaring of the young lion; the one making him angry is wronging his own soul.

3 An honor to a man is cessation from strife, and every fool will quarrel.

4 From autumn a lazy one will not will plow, and he begs in the harvest, and [there is] nothing.

5 Counsel in the heart of man [is] deep waters, and a man of understanding will draw it out.

6 Many a man proclaims, each man his loving devotion—and a man of faithfulness, who can find?

7 A righteous one is walking about in his integrity; blessed [are] his sons after him.

8 A king sitting on the throne of judgment is scattering all evil with his eyes.

9 Who can say, “I have made clean my heart; I have been cleansed from my sin?

10 A stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah—the two of them alike [are] an abomination to YHWH.

11 Even by his deeds a child is known, whether his action [is] pure and upright.

12 The ear hearing, and the eye seeing—YHWH has made even both of them.

13 You should not love sleep, lest you be dispossessed; open your eyes, be satisfied [with] bread.

14 “Bad, bad,” says the one buying, and having gone away himself, then he boasts.

15 There is gold and an abundance of rubies, and the lips of knowledge [are] a precious vessel.

16 Take his garment when it has been pledged for a stranger, and hold it in pledge for a foreign woman.

17 The bread of deceit [is] sweet to a man, and afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

18 Plans are established by counsel, and by guidance wage war.

19 The one going about [with] slander uncovers a secret; and do not pledge yourself to the one opening his lips.

20 One belittling his father or his mother, his lamp will be extinguished in the pupil of darkness.

21 An inheritance gained unjustly at first, even its latter end will not be blessed.

22 You should not say, “I will repay evil.” Wait for YHWH, and He will save you.

23 An abomination to YHWH [are] a stone and a stone, and scales of deceit [are] not good.

24 [From] YHWH [are] the steps of man; and how can a man understand his way?

25 [It is] a snare for a man to rashly declare “It is holy” and afterward to reconsider [his] vows.

26 Wise [is] a king scattering the wicked—he even turns the wheel over them.

27 The spirit of a man [is] the lamp of YHWH, searching all the chambers of the belly.

28 Loving devotion and faithfulness guard a king, and his throne is supported by loving devotion.

29 The glory of young men [is] their strength, and the splendor of old men, grey hair.

30 Stripes that wound scour evil, and beatings, the chambers of the belly.