CHAPTER 24
1Do not envy evil men,
and do not desire to be with them.
2For their heart ponders plunder,
and their lips speak trouble.
3Through wisdom a house is built,
and through discernment it is firm-founded.
4And through knowledge rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant wealth.
5A wise man is mightier than a strong one,
and a man of knowledge than one of great power.
6For through designs you should make war,
and victory comes from abundant counsel.
7Wisdom is too high for the dolt,
he won’t open his mouth in the gate.
8Who plots to do evil,
they will call him a master of cunning.
9The foulness of foolishness is an offense,
the scoffer is loathed by people.
10Should you be slack on the day of distress,
your strength will be constrained.
11Save those who are taken to death,
and from those stumbling to slaughter do not hold back.
12Should you say, “Why, we did not know of this.”
Will not the Weigher of Hearts discern,
and the Watcher of your life not know,
and pay back a man by his deeds?
13Eat honey, my son, for it is good,
and honeycomb, sweet on your palate.
14Thus know wisdom for yourself,
if you find it, there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
15Do not enter the home of the righteous
nor plunder the place where he beds his flock.
16For seven times a righteous man falls and gets up but the wicked stumble in evil.
17When your enemy falls, do not rejoice,
and when he stumbles, let your heart be not gladdened,
18lest the LORD see and it be evil in His eyes,
and He deflect His wrath from him.
19Do not be provoked by evildoers,
do not envy the wicked.
20For there is no future for the evil man,
the lamp of the wicked will gutter.
21Fear the LORD, my son, and the king,
neither one nor the other vex.
22For ruin from them rises suddenly;
Who can know the disaster wreaked by both?
23These, too, are from the wise:
showing favor in justice cannot be good.
24Who says to the guilty, “You are innocent,”
peoples will curse him,
nations will damn him.
25But for the rebukers it will be pleasant,
upon them the blessing of good will come.
26With lips does he kiss
who answers in forthright words.
27Prepare your task outside
and ready it for yourself in the field.
After, you will build your house.
28Do not be a witness for no cause against your neighbor,
that you should seduce with your lips.
29Do not say, “As he did to me I will do to him,
I will pay back the man by his deeds.”
30I passed by the field of the lazy man
and by the vineyard of one without sense,
31and, look, it had all sprouted thorns,
its surface was covered with thistles,
and its stone wall was in ruins.
32And I beheld and I paid mind,
33a bit more sleep, a bit more slumber,
a bit more lying with folded arms,
34and your privation will come like a wayfarer,
your want like a shield-bearing man.