11
1 The LORD hates false scales, but he loves accurate weights.
2 Proud and boastful people will be shamed, but wisdom stays with those who are modest and humble.
3 Good people are guided by their honesty, but crooks who lie and cheat will ruin themselves.
4 Money is worthless when you face God’s punishment, but living right will save you from death.
5 Doing right makes life better for those who are good, but the wicked are destroyed by their own wicked ways.
6 Doing right sets honest people free, but people who can’t be trusted are trapped by their greed.
7 When the wicked die, all their hopes are lost; everything they thought they could do comes to nothing.
8 Good people escape from trouble, but the wicked come along and are trapped by it.
9 With their words hypocrites can destroy their neighbors. But with what they know, good people can escape.
10 When good people are successful, the whole city is happy, and they all shout with joy when evil people are destroyed.
11 Blessings from the honest people living in a city will make it great, but the things evil people say can destroy it.
12 Stupid people say bad things about their neighbors.* Stupid people … neighbors Or “The neighbors hate a stupid person.” Wise people know to be quiet.
13 People who tell secrets about others cannot be trusted. Those who can be trusted keep quiet.
14 A nation without wise leaders will fall. Many good advisors make a nation safe.
15 You will be sorry if you promise to pay a stranger’s debt. Refuse to make such promises and you will be safe.
16 A kind and gentle woman gains respect, but violent men gain only wealth.
17 People who are kind will be rewarded for their kindness, but cruel people will be rewarded with trouble.
18 The work of evil people is all lies, but those who do right will receive a good reward.† This is a wordplay in Hebrew. The word “lies” sounds like the word “reward.”
19 People who do what is right are on their way to life, but those who always want to do wrong are on their way to death.
20 The LORD hates those who love to do evil, but he is pleased with those who try to do right.
21 The truth is, evil people will be punished, and good people will be set free.
22 A beautiful woman without good sense is like a gold ring in a pig’s nose.
23 What good people want brings more good. What evil people want brings more trouble.
24 Some people give freely and gain more; others refuse to give and end up with less.
25 Give freely, and you will profit. Help others, and you will gain more for yourself.
26 People curse a greedy man who refuses to sell his grain, but they bless a man who sells his grain to feed others.
27 People are pleased with those who try to do good. Those who look for trouble will find it.
28 Those who trust in their riches will fall like dead leaves, but good people will blossom.
29 Those who cause trouble for their families will inherit nothing but the wind. A foolish person will end up as a servant to one who is wise.
30 What good people produce is like a life-giving tree. Those who are wise give new life to others.‡ Or, according to one ancient version, “The fruit of a good man is a tree of life, but a violent man takes lives.”
31 If good people are rewarded here on earth, then surely those who do evil will also get what they deserve.