21My son, have you sinned? add no more thereto;

And make supplication for your former sins.

2 Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent;

For if you draw near it will bite you:

The teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion,

Slaying the souls of men.

3 All iniquity is as a two-edged sword;

Its stroke has no healing.

4 Terror and violence will lay waste riches;

So the house of an arrogant man will be laid waste.

5 Supplication from a poor man’s mouth reaches to the ears of 1 God,

And his judgement comes speedily.

6 One that hates reproof is in the path of the sinner;

And he that fears the Lord will turn again in his heart.

7 He that is mighty in tongue is known afar off:

But the man of understanding knows when he slips.

8 He that builds his house with other men’s money

Is like one that gathers himself stones against winter.

9 The congregation of wicked men is as tow wrapped together;

And the end of them is a flame of fire.

10 The way of sinners is made smooth with stones;

And at the last end thereof is the pit of Hades.

11 He that keeps the law becomes master of the intent thereof;

And the end of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.

12 He that is not clever will not be instructed;

And there is a cleverness which makes bitterness to abound.

13 The knowledge of a wise man will be made to abound as a flood;

And his counsel as a fountain of life.

14 The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel;

And he will hold no knowledge.

15 If a man of knowledge hear a wise word,

He will commend it, and add to it:

The dissolute man hears it, and it displeases him,

And he puts it away behind his back.

16 The discourse of a fool is like a burden in the way;

But grace will be found on the lips of the wise.

17 The mouth of the prudent man will be sought for in the congregation;

And they will ponder his words in their heart.

18 As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool;

And the knowledge of an unwise man is as 2 talk without sense.

19 Instruction is as fetters on the feet of an unwise man,

And as manacles on the right hand.

20 A fool lifts up his voice with laughter;

But a clever man will scarce smile quietly.

21 Instruction is to a prudent man as an ornament of gold,

And as a bracelet upon his right arm.

22 The foot of a fool is soon in another man’s house;

But a man of experience will be ashamed of entering.

23 A foolish man peeps in from the door of another man’s house;

But a man that is instructed will stand without.

24 It is a lack of instruction in a man to listen at the door;

But the prudent man will be grieved with the disgrace.

25 3 The lips of strangers will be grieved at these things;

But the words of prudent men will be weighed in the balance.

26 The heart of fools is in their mouth;

But the mouth of wise men is their heart.

27 When the ungodly curses Satan,

He curses his own soul.

28 A whisperer defiles his own soul,

And will be hated wherever he travels.