A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
And {Or, favor is better than &c.}loving favor rather than silver and gold.
The rich and the poor meet together:
Jehovah is the maker of them all.
A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself;
But the simple pass on, and {Hebrew: are mulcted.}suffer for it.
The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah
Is riches, and honor, and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse:
He that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.
Train up a child {Hebrew: according to his way.}in the way he should go,
And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich ruleth over the poor;
And the borrower is servant to the lender.
He that soweth iniquity shall reap {Or, vanity}calamity;
And the rod of his wrath shall fail.
He that hath a {Hebrew: good.}bountiful eye shall be blessed;
For he giveth of his bread to the poor.
Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out;
Yea, strife and ignominy will cease.
He that loveth {Another reading is, the pure of heart.}pureness of heart,
{Or, Hath grace in his lips Or, That hath grace in his lips}For the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.
The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge;
But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man.
The sluggard saith, There is a lion without;
I shall be slain in the streets.
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit;
He {Or, against whom Jehovah hath indignation}that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain,
And he that giveth to the rich, shall come only to want.
Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise,
And apply thy heart unto my knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee,
If they be established together upon thy lips.
That thy trust may be in Jehovah,
I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee.
Have not I written unto thee {The word is doubtful. Another reading is, heretofore.}excellent things
{Or, in}Of counsels and knowledge,
To make thee know {Or, of a certainty the words &c.}the certainty of the words of truth,
That thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?
Rob not the poor, {Or, for}because he is poor;
Neither {Or, crush}oppress the afflicted in the gate:
For Jehovah will plead their cause,
And despoil of life those that despoil them.
Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger;
And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go:
Lest thou learn this ways,
And get a snare to thy soul.
Be thou not one of them that strike hands,
Or of them that are sureties for debts.
If thou hast not wherewith to pay,
Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Remove not the ancient landmark,
Which thy fathers have set.
Seest thou a man {Or, skilful}diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
He shall not stand before {Hebrew: obscure.}mean men.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 22,14 Spr 22,14
To deliver thee from the strange woman,Even from the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words;
That forsaketh the {Or, guide}friend of her youth,And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
For {Or, she sinketh down unto death, which is her house}her house inclineth unto death,And her paths unto {Or, the shades Hebrew: Rephaim.}the dead;
None that go unto her return again,Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
And Jehovah saw it, and abhorred them,Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,And her mouth is smoother than oil:
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;Her steps take hold on Sheol;
{Or, Lest thou find the level &c. Or, Lest thou weigh carefully the path of life}So that she findeth not the level path of life:Her ways are unstable, and {Or, thou canest not know them}she knoweth it not.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,And depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her,And come not nigh the door of her house;
Lest thou give thine honor unto others,And thy years unto the cruel;
Lest strangers be filled with thy {Or, wealth}strength,And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
And thou {Or, groan}mourn at thy latter end,When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction,And my heart despised reproof;
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I was well-nigh in all evilIn the midst of the assembly and congregation.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,And running waters out of thine own well.
{Or, Let}Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,And streams of water in the streets?
Let them be for thyself alone,And not for strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed;And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;And {Hebrew: go astray.}be thou ravished always with her love.
For why shouldest thou, my son, {Hebrew: go astray.}be ravished with a strange woman,And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;And he {Or, weigheth carefully}maketh level all his paths.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked,And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
He shall die for lack of instruction;And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,That they might walk in their own counsels.
To keep thee from the evil woman,From the flattery of the foreigner's tongue.
Lust not after her beauty in thy heart;Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread;And {Hebrew: a man's wife.}the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.
Can a man take fire in his bosom,And his clothes not be burned?
Or can one walk upon hot coals,And his feet not be scorched?
So he that goeth in to his neighbor's wife;Whosoever toucheth her shall not be {Hebrew: held innocent.}unpunished.
That they may keep thee from the strange woman,From the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words.
For at the window of my houseI looked forth through my lattice;
And I beheld among the simple ones,I discerned among the youths,A young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner;And he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening of the day,In the {Hebrew: pupil (of the eye).}middle of the night and in the darkness.
And, behold, there met him a womanWith the attire of a harlot, and {Or, close Hebrew: guarded.}wily of heart.
(She is {Or, turbulent}clamorous and wilful;Her feet abide not in her house:
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,And lieth in wait at every corner.)
So she caught him, and kissed him, {Hebrew: She hardened her face, and said.}And with an impudent face she said unto him:
Sacrifices of peace-offerings {Or, were due from me}are with me;This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee,Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have spread my couch with {Or, cushion}carpets of tapestry,With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
I have {Or, sprinkled}perfumed my bedWith myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;Let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the man is not at home;He is gone a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him;He will come home at the full moon.
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
He goeth after her {Hebrew: suddenly.}straightway,As an ox goeth to the slaughter,Or as one in {The Hebrew is obsure.}fetters to the correction of the fool;
Till an arrow strike through his liver;As a bird hasteth to the snare,And knoweth not that it is for his life.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,And attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thy heart decline to her ways;Go not astray in her paths.
For she hath cast down many wounded:Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
Her house is the way to Sheol,Going down to the chambers of death.
For a harlot is a deep ditch;And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he knew not that Jehovah was departed from him.
And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin.
And I find more bitter than death the woman {Or, who is a snare, and her heart is as nets}whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.