1No evil will befall one who fears Yahweh, but in trial he will be delivered again and again.
2One who hates the Torah will not become wise; he is tossed about in a storm like a ship.
3A discerning man will understand the word of Yahweh, and his Torah is for him like the Urim in the breastpiece.
4Prepare your speech, and so you will be heard; gather your learning, and then answer.
5The inward parts of a fool are like a cartwheel, and his thought is like a turning axle.
6A stallion is like a mocking friend; he neighs under every rider.
7Why does one day surpass another, when all the light of the days in a year is from the sun?
8By the Lord’s knowledge they were distinguished, and he made the seasons and feasts different.
9Some of them he exalted and made holy, and some of them he made ordinary days.
10And all people are from the ground, for Adam was created from the earth.
11In the fullness of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them and made their ways different.
12Some of them he blessed and exalted, some he made holy and brought near to himself; others he cursed and brought low, and turned them out of their place.
13Like clay in the potter’s hand, to be shaped according to his good pleasure, so are people in the hand of their Maker, to be dealt with according to his judgment.
14Opposite evil is good, and opposite death is life; so opposite the godly is the sinner.
15So look at all the works of the Most High: they are in pairs, one opposite the other.
16I, the last, have kept watch; and you will inherit them as from the beginning.
17Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name, and on Israel, whom you have likened to a firstborn.
18Take pity on the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the city of your resting place.
19Fill Zion with the proclamation of your virtues, and your people with your glory.
20Give testimony to those who were your creatures from the beginning, and fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name.
21Give a reward to those who wait for you, and let your prophets be found trustworthy.
22Hear, O Lord, the prayer of your supplicants, according to the blessing of Aaron for your people, and all on earth will know that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.
23The stomach will eat any food, but one food is better than another.
24The throat tastes game, so an understanding heart discerns false words.
25A crooked heart will cause grief, but a man of experience will repay him.
26A woman will accept any man, but one daughter is better than another.
27A woman’s beauty brightens the face and surpasses every other human desire.
28If there is mercy and gentleness on her tongue, her husband is not like other men.
29He who gets a wife begins to acquire a possession, a helper fit for him and a pillar of rest.
30Where there is no fence, a property will be plundered; and where there is no wife, a man will groan and wander.
31For who will trust a well-armed robber who darts from city to city? So it is with a man who has no nest and lodges wherever night finds him.
Open in the interactive reader →