1Three things I hate, and four I do not love:
2a grumbling official at a banquet, and one who sits enthroned in the city heights;
3one who holds his member and urinates, and one who enters his neighbor’s house suddenly.
4Violence and arrogance will lay wealth waste; so the house of the proud will be made desolate.
5A poor man’s plea goes from his mouth to God’s ears, and judgment comes for him swiftly.
6Whoever hates correction is in the sinner’s path, but whoever fears the Lord will repent in his heart.
7A man mighty in tongue is known from afar, but the discerning man knows when he slips.
8Whoever builds his house with another’s money is like one gathering stones for his own tomb.
9An assembly of the lawless is a bundle of tow, and their end is a blazing fire.
10The path of sinners is paved smooth, but at its end is the pit of Hades.
11Whoever keeps the law masters his thoughts, and the fulfillment of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.
12One who is not clever cannot be taught, but there is a cleverness that multiplies bitterness.
13The knowledge of the wise will overflow like a flood, and their counsel is like a spring of life.
14A fool’s mind is like a broken jar; it cannot hold any knowledge.
15When a person of understanding hears a wise saying, he praises it and adds to it. When the self-indulgent person hears it, it displeases him, and he throws it behind his back.
16A fool’s talk is like a load on a journey, but grace is found on the lips of the wise.
17The mouth of the prudent is sought in the assembly, and his words are pondered in their hearts.
18Wisdom is to a fool like a ruined house, and the knowledge of the senseless is a jumble of words.
19To the foolish, instruction is like shackles on the feet and like handcuffs on the right hand.
20A fool raises his voice when he laughs, but a shrewd man will barely smile in silence.
21To the prudent, instruction is like a gold ornament, and like a bracelet on the right arm.
22A fool’s foot is quick to enter a house, but a man of discretion is deferential to the great.
23A fool peers into a house from the doorway, but an honorable man stands outside.
24It is a lack of breeding to listen at a door; a prudent man is burdened by the disgrace.
25The lips of gossips are full of such matters, but the words of the prudent are weighed on a scale.
26A fool’s heart is in his mouth, but a wise man’s mouth is in his heart.
27When a wicked man curses Satan, he is cursing his own soul.
28A whisperer defiles his own soul and will be hated wherever he lives.
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