1In three things I was made beautiful, and I stood in beauty before the Lord and men: harmony among brothers, friendship between neighbors, and a husband and wife who get along well together.
2There are three things my soul hates, and I am very distressed by their lives.
3A poor man who is proud, a rich man who is a liar, and an old man who is an adulterer and lacks sense.
4How beautiful is judgment in the gray-haired, and for elders to know counsel.
5If in your youth you did not desire them, how will you attain them in your old age?
6The crown of the aged is great experience, and their boast is the fear of the Lord.
7Nine things I have judged blessed in my heart, and a tenth I will speak with my tongue: a man who rejoices in his children, and one who lives to see the fall of his enemies.
8Blessed is he who has not stumbled with his tongue, and has not served one less worthy than himself.
9Blessed is he who finds prudence, and who speaks to ears that listen.
10How great is he who has found wisdom, but he is not greater than the one who fears the Lord.
11Blessed is the husband of an intelligent wife, who does not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
13Any wound, but not a wound of the heart; any evil, but not the evil of a woman.
14Any attack, but not an attack from those who hate; and any vengeance, but not the vengeance of enemies.
15There is no head worse than a serpent’s head, and no anger worse than an enemy’s anger.
16I would rather live with a lion and a dragon than dwell with a wicked woman.
17A woman’s evil blackens a man’s appearance, and darkens his face like a bear’s.
18Among his companions her husband sits, and he sighs involuntarily.
19Any evil is small compared to a woman’s evil; may a sinner’s lot fall upon her.
20Like a sandy ascent to the feet of an old man, so is a talkative woman to a gentle man.
21Do not fall for a woman’s beauty, and do not desire her for what she has.
22For it is a disgrace and a shame when a wife supports her husband.
23Weak hands and failing knees—a wife who does not make her husband happy.
24From a woman was the beginning of iniquity, and because of her we all die.
25A wicked wife is leprosy to her husband; let him send her from his house and be healed of his leprosy.
26If she does not go as you direct, cut her off from your flesh.
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