The king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses:
He turneth it whithersoever he will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes;
But Jehovah weighteth the hearts.
To do righteousness and justice
Is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice.
A high look, and a proud heart,
{Or, And the tillage}Even the lamp of the wicked, is sin.
The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness;
But every one that is hasty hasteth only to want.
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
Is a vapor driven to and fro by them that seek death.
The violence of the wicked shall sweep them away,
Because they refuse to do justice.
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked;
But as for the pure, his work is {Or, straight}right.
It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop,
Than with a contentious woman in {Or, a house in common Hebrew: a house of society.}a wide house.
The soul of the wicked desireth evil:
His neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.
When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise;
And {Or, when one considereth the wise}when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.
{Or, One that is righteous…he overthroweth the wicked &c.}The righteous man considereth the house of the wicked,
How the wicked are overthrown to their ruin.
Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor,
He also shall cry, but shall not be heard.
A gift in secret {Hebrew: bendeth.}pacifieth anger;
And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.
It is joy to the righteous to do justice;
{Or, But destruction shall be to &c.}But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding
Shall rest in the assembly of {Or, the shades Hebrew: Rephaim.}the dead.
He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man:
He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
The wicked is a ransom for the righteous;
And the treacherous cometh in the stead of the upright.
It is better to dwell in a desert land,
Than with {Or, a contentious woman and vexation}a contentious and fretful woman.
There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise;
But a foolish man swalloweth it up.
He that followeth after righteousness and kindness
Findeth life, righteousness, and honor.
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty,
And bringeth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue
Keepeth his soul from troubles.
The proud and haughty man, scoffer is his name;
He worketh in the arrogance of pride.
The desire of the sluggard killeth him;
For his hands refuse to labor.
There is that coveteth greedily all the day long;
But the righteous giveth and withholdeth not.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination:
How much more, when he bringeth it {Or, to atone for wickedness}with a wicked mind!
A false witness shall perish;
But the man that heareth shall speak so as to endure.
A wicked man hardeneth his face;
But as for the upright, {Another reading is, he considereth his way.}he establisheth his ways.
There is no wisdom nor understanding
Nor counsel against Jehovah.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle;
But {Or, deliverance}victory is of Jehovah.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 21,12 Spr 21,12
I have seen the foolish taking root:But suddenly I cursed his habitation.
The integrity of the upright shall guide them;But the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath;But righteousness delivereth from death.
The righteousness of the perfect shall {Or, make straight (or, plain)}direct his way;But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.
Righteousness guardeth {Hebrew: uprightness of way.}him that is upright in the way;But wickedness overthroweth {Hebrew: sin.}the sinner.
He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusteth;And {Hebrew: it shall (or, thou shall) bring him.}he shall be brought to the king of terrors.
{Or, It shall dwell in his tent, that it be no more his (or, because it is none of his)}There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his:Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
His roots shall be dried up beneath,And above shall his branch {Or, wither}be cut off.
His remembrance shall perish from the earth,And he shall have no name in the street.
He shall be driven from light into darkness,And chased out of the world.
He shall have neither son nor son's son among his people,Nor any remaining where he sojourned.
{Or, They that dwell in the west are…as they that dwell in the east are &c.}They that come after shall be astonished at his day,As they that went before {Hebrew: laid hold on horror.}were affrighted.
Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,And this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
The wicked is thrust down in his {Or, calamity}evil-doing;But the righteous hath a refuge in his death.
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
Have ye not asked wayfaring men?And do ye not know their evidences,
That the evil man is {Or, spared in &c.}reserved to the day of calamity?That they are {Or, led away in &c.}led forth to the day of wrath?
And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
This is the portion of a wicked man with God,And the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty:
If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword;And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
Those that remain of him shall be buried in death,And his widows shall make no lamentation.
Though he heap up silver as the dust,And prepare raiment as the clay;
He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,And the innocent shall divide the silver.
He buildeth his house as the moth,And as a booth which the keeper maketh.
He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers;He openeth his eyes, and he is not.
Terrors overtake him like waters;A tempest stealeth him away in the night.
The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth;And it sweepeth him out of his place.
For God shall hurl at him, and not spare:He would fain flee out of his hand.
Men shall clap their hands at him,And shall hiss him out of his place.
I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
I have seen the wicked in great power,And spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
{Or, Yet he passed away}But one passed by, and, lo, he was not:Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but {Or, cast them into dungeons}cast them down to {Greek: Tartarus.}hell, and committed them to {Some ancient authorities read chains. Compare Wisd. 17:17.}pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, {Greek: a herald.}a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;
and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked
(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, {Greek: tormented.}vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds):
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
God will likewise {Or, break thee down}destroy thee for ever;He will take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent,And root thee out of the land of the living. [Selah
by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
Whoso is wise will give heed to these things;And they will consider the lovingkindnesses of Jehovah.
but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been {Or, stored with fire}stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.
Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!