Chapter 11

A false balance the Lord hates; nothing but full weight will content him.

Pride is neighbour to disesteem; humility to wisdom.

The innocence of the upright guides them safely; the treacherous by their own plots are destroyed.

When the time for reckoning comes, little shall wealth avail; right living is death’s avoiding.

An honest purpose clears a man’s path; the wicked are entangled by their own scheming.

For his honesty, the upright man shall go free; not so the wrong-doer, caught in the meshes of his own net.

No hope follows the godless to the grave; nothing left, now, of all their anxious longing.

Honesty shall yet go free, and a knave be heir to its troubles.

False speech the hypocrite will use to ruin his neighbour; true knowledge is the saving of the just.

Thrive honest men, come ruin on knaves, there is huzza’ing all through the city;

how should a city stand or fall, but by good words from the one, ill counsel from the other?

He mocks loud, who lacks wit; discernment holds her tongue.

Who bears ill tales, keeps no secrets; trust none with thy confidence but a loyal friend.

Ill fares the people, that guidance has none; safety reigns where counsel abounds.

He who goes bail for a stranger has great harm of it; that snare avoid, and sleep sound.

Gracious ways may win a woman renown; man never grew rich but by hardiness.

A kindly man is the friend of his own well-being; cruelty will not spare its own flesh and blood.

Precarious livelihood the godless man wins; wouldst thou be sure of thy revenue, let honest doings be thy crop;

mercy breeds life, evil ambitions death.

A false heart the Lord cannot endure; nothing but honest dealing will content him.

Depend upon it, the sinner shall never be held guiltless; the race of the just shall find acquittal.

A woman fair and fond, a sow ringed with gold.

In the desires of the just only good dwells; the hopes of the wicked only lead to ruin.

One spends what he has, and yet has more to spare; another sets his heart on what is none of his, and is a poor man still;

give and thou shalt thrive; he shall have abundance, that bestows abundantly.

Corn hoarded shall win thee a curse, corn sold freely a blessing, from the lips of a whole people.

Plan thou good, thou canst not be afoot too early; plan thou evil, on thy own head it shall recoil.

Fall he must, that relies on riches; never shall the just fade or fail.

He shall feed on air, that misrules his own household; the fool will be slave and the wise man master in the end.

Where right living bears its fruit, a tree of life grows up; the wise man’s reward is living souls.

Even honest men cannot go through the world unpunished; what, then, of the godless, what, then, of the sinner?