CHAPTER 28
1 He that will be avenged, shall find of the Lord vengeance; and he keeping shall keep his sins to be punished harder by his rightfulness.
2 Forgive thou to thy neighbour that annoyeth thee, and then sins shall be released [or be forgiven] to thee after praying.
3 A man keepeth ire [or wrath] to man; and seeketh he of God medi-cine?
4 He hath no mercy on a man like himself; and beseecheth he the High-est for his own sins?
5 He the while he is flesh, reserve-eth ire; and asketh he of God mercy? who shall pray for his sins?
6 Have thou mind on the last things, and cease thou to be anyone’s enemy. For why failing and death nigh not in the commandments of God.
7 Have thou mind on [or Remem-ber] the dread of the Lord, and be not wroth to the neighbour. Have thou mind on [or Remember] the testament of the Highest, and despise thou the ignorance of thy neighbour.
8 Abstain thee from strife, and thou shalt decrease [or lessen], either abridge, sins. For why a wrathful man kindleth strife;
9 and a sinful man, that is, a sower of discords, shall disturb or trouble friends, and he shall send in enmity in the midst [or in the middle] of men having peace.
10 For why after the trees of the wood, so fire shall burn on high; and after the might of a man, so his wrathfulness shall be, and after his chattel [or substance] he shall enhance his ire.
11 Hasty striving [or strife] shall kindle fire, and hasty chiding shall shed out blood; and a tongue bearing witnessing shall bring death.
12 If thou blowest, as fire it shall burn on high; and if thou spittest thereon, it shall be quenched; ever either, that is, a word kindling ire, and a word refraining it, come forth of the mouth.
13 A privy backbiter, and a double-tongued man [or The whispering grutcher, and the twisel tongue cursed], yea, he that speaketh fair before a man, and evil behind him, is cursed; for he disturbed or troubled many men having peace.
14 The third tongue hath stirred many men, and hath scattered them from folk into folk. It hath destroyed walled cities of rich men, and hath mined down or undermined the houses of great men. It hath cut down the virtues of peoples, and hath unknit strong folks.
15 The third tongue hath cast out wedded, or honest, women, and hath deprived them of their travails.
16 He that beholdeth the third tongue[or it], shall not have rest; neither shall have a friend, in whom he shall rest.
17 The wound of [a] beating [or scourge] maketh wanness; but the wound of [a] tongue shall make less [or shall bruise or break] the bones.
18 Many men fell down by the sharpness of sword; but not so many as they that perished [or died] by their tongue.
19 He is blessed that is covered from a wicked [or a shrewd] tongue; and he that passed not in the wrathfulness thereof, and he that drew not the yoke thereof, and was not bound in the bonds thereof.
20 For why the yoke thereof is an iron yoke, and the bond thereof is a brazen bond.
21 The death thereof is the worst death; and hell is more profitable, that is, the pain of hell is less evil, than it.
22 The perseverance thereof shall not dwell, but it shall hold the ways of unjust men, [or The steadfastness of it shall not abide still, but shall hold the ways of unrightwise men]; in his flame it shall not burn just [or rightwise] men.
23 They that forsake God, shall fall into it; and it shall burn greatly in them, and it shall not be quenched; and as a lion it shall be sent into them, and as a leopard it shall hurt them.
24 Beset [or Hedge] thine ears with thorns, and do not thou hear a wicked tongue; and make thou doors to thy mouth, and locks to thine ears. Well thou [or melt together], or temper thou, thy gold, and thy silver;
25 and make thou a balance to thy words, and rightful [or right] bridles to thy mouth.
26 And take heed, lest peradventure thou slide in tongue, and fall in the sight of enemies, setting treason [or waiting or laying wait] to thee, and thy fall be uncurable [or unhealable] into death.