24
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1 Do not envy evil people;
do not desire to associate with them,
2 because they are constantly thinking about acting violently,
and whenever they speak [MTY], they talk about ◄causing trouble/hurting someone►.
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3 People make good houses (OR, families) by doing what is wise,
and they make their houses (OR, families) strong by heeding good advice.
4 By using good sense, they are able to buy valuable and beautiful things and put them in the rooms of their houses.
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5 Being wise is better than being strong/powerful;
those who know many things can accomplish more than those who are very strong.
6 Leaders can fight battles if they have wise advisors,
and they win those battles if they have many good advisors.
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7 Foolish people cannot understand wise sayings/talk;
at public meetings they are not able to say anything that is useful.
-23-
8 Those who are always planning to do evil things will be called troublemakers.
9 It is sinful to plan to do foolish things,
and people hate those who make fun of everything that is good.
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10 If you act as though you are helpless when you have troubles,
you are truly very weak.
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11 If it is unjustly decided that someone must be executed, try hard to rescue them [DOU].
12 If you say, “I did not know anything about it, so ◄it is not my concern/I did not try to help him►,”
remember that God knows what we have done,
and he knows what we were thinking [IDM, RHQ],
and he will certainly [RHQ] repay us as we deserve for what we have done or for not doing what we should have done.
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13 My child/son, eat honey, because it is good for you;
the honey that drips from honeycombs tastes very sweet.
14 Similarly, being wise is good for your soul;
if you become wise,
you will be happy in the future,
and God will certainly do for you what you are confidently expecting him to do [LIT].
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15 Do not be like wicked people who hide and wait to break into the houses of righteous/good people
and rob/steal things.
16 Even if good people fall down seven/many times,
they always stand/get up again,
but when a disaster happens to wicked people,
it ruins/destroys them.
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17 Do not be happy when something bad happens to one of your enemies;
do not rejoice when he stumbles and falls,
18 because Yahweh will know what you are thinking, and he will not like it,
and as a result he will not punish that enemy of yours.
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19 Do not become angry/upset about those who do what is evil,
and do not [SYN] envy them,
20 because nothing good will happen to wicked people;
they are like a lamp that will soon be extinguished [MET].
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21 My child/son, revere Yahweh and also honor the king,
and do not associate with people who want to rebel against either of them,
22 because those people will suddenly experience disasters;
and no one knows [RHQ] what great disasters that God or the king can cause to happen to them.
More sayings from wise people
23 Here are more things that wise people have said:
It is wrong for judges to decide matters unfairly [IDM].
24 If they say to people who are guilty, “You ◄are innocent/have not done something that is wrong►,”
even people in other nations will curse and despise them,
25 but if judges say that guilty people must be punished,
things will go well for those judges, and ◄they will receive blessings/God will bless them►.
26 Those who answer others honestly show that they are truly their friends [IDM].
27 First, do the work that needs to be done outside your house,
and prepare your fields, and then plant things,
and after you finish doing that, build your house.
28 In the courtroom do not testify against someone when you have no reason to do that,
and do not try to deceive people by what you say [MTY].
29 Do not say, “I will do to him what he did to me;
I will pay him back for the bad things that he did to me.”
30 One day I walked by the vineyards of a lazy man,
a man who did not have good sense.
31 I was surprised to see that the fields were full of all kinds of thorny bushes,
and the stone wall around the garden had ◄collapsed/fallen down►.
32 When I saw that, I thought about it, and I learned this:
33 If you spend a lot of time sleeping and napping and folding your hands while you rest,
34 soon you will become poor;
it will be as though [PRS, SIM] a bandit who had a weapon in his hand attacked you and stole all that you had.