42
1 Of these things be not ashamed,
And accept no man’s person to sin thereby:
2 Of the law of the Most High, and his covenant;
And of judgement to do justice to the ungodly;
3 Of reckoning with a partner and with travellers;
And of a gift from the heritage of friends;
4 Of exactness of balance and weights;
And of getting much or little;
5 Of indifferent selling of merchants;
And of much correction of children;
And of making the side of an evil servant to bleed.
6 * Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is;
And where many hands are, shut thou close.
7 Whatsoever thou handest over, let it be by number and weight;
And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.
8 Be not ashamed to instruct the unwise and foolish,
And one of extreme old age that contendeth with those that are young;
And so shalt thou be well instructed indeed,
And approved in the sight of every man living.
9 A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father;
And the care for her putteth away sleep;
In her youth, lest she pass the flower of her age;
And when she is married, lest she should be hated:
10 In her virginity, lest she should be defiled
And be with child in her father’s house;
And when she hath a husband, lest she should transgress;
And when she is married, lest she should be barren.
11 Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter,
Lest she make thee † a laughingstock to thine enemies,
A byword in the city and ‡ notorious among the people,
And shame thee before the multitude.
12 Look not upon every body in regard of beauty,
And sit not in the midst of women;
13 For from garments cometh a moth,
And from a woman a woman’s wickedness.
14 Better is the wickedness of a man than a pleasant-dealing woman,
And a woman which putteth thee to shameful reproach.
15 I will make mention now of the works of the Lord,
And will declare the things that I have seen:
In the words of the Lord are his works.
16 The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things;
And the work of the Lord is full of his glory.
17 The Lord hath not given power to the saints to declare all his marvellous works;
Which the Almighty Lord firmly settled,
That whatsoever is might be established in his glory.
18 He searcheth out the deep, and the heart,
And he hath understanding of their cunning devices:
For the Most High knoweth all knowledge,
And he looketh into the § signs of the world,
19 Declaring the things that are past, and the things that shall be,
And revealing the traces of hidden things.
20 No thought escapeth him;
There is not a word hid from him.
21 The mighty works of his wisdom he hath ordered,
Who is from everlasting to everlasting:
Nothing hath been added unto them, nor diminished from them;
And he had no need of any counsellor.
22 How desirable are all his works!
One may behold this even unto a spark.
23 All these things live and remain for ever in all manner of uses,
And they are all obedient.
24 All things are double one against another:
And he hath made nothing imperfect.
25 One thing establisheth the good things of another:
And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?
* 42:6 Or, A seal † 42:11 Or, a rejoicing ‡ 42:11 Gr. called forth. § 42:18 Gr. sign.