CHAPTER 22
1 Better is a good name, than many riches; for good grace is above silver and gold.
2 A rich man and a poor man met themselves; the Lord is [the] worker of ever either.
3 A fell man seeth evil, and hideth himself; and an innocent man passed, and he was tormented by harm.
4 The end of temperance is the dread of the Lord; riches, and glory, and life.
5 Armours [or Arms] and swords be in the way of a wayward man; but the keeper of his soul goeth away far from those [or from them].
6 It is a proverb, A young waxing man after his way, and when he hath waxed eld [or eldeth], he shall not go away from it.
7 A rich man commandeth to poor men; and he that taketh borrowing, is servant of the lender.
8 He that soweth wickedness shall reap evils; and the rod of his ire [or his wrath] shall be ended.
9 He that is ready to give mercy shall be blessed; for of his loaves he gave some to a poor man.
10 Cast thou out a scorner, and strife shall go out with him; and causes and despisings shall cease.
11 He that loveth the cleanness of heart, shall have the king for a friend, for the grace of his lips.
12 The eyes of the Lord keep knowing; and the words of a wicked man be deceived.
13 A slow man shall say, A lion is withoutforth; I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.
14 The mouth of an alien woman is a deep ditch; he to whom the Lord is wroth shall fall into it.
15 Folly is bound together in the heart of a child; and a rod of chastising [or discipline] shall drive it away.
16 He that falsely challengeth a poor man, to increase his own riches, shall give to a richer man, and he shall be needy.
17 My son, bow down thine ear, and hear thou the words of wise men; but set thou the heart to my teaching.
18 That shall be fair to thee, when thou hast kept it in thine heart, and it shall flow again in thy lips.
19 That thy trust be in the Lord; wherefore and I have showed it to thee today.
20 Lo! I have described it in three manners*, in thoughts and knowing,
21 that I should show to thee the firmness and speeches of truth; to answer of these things to them that sent thee.
22 Do thou not violence to a poor man, for he is poor; neither defoul thou a needy man in the gate.
23 For the Lord shall deem his cause, and he shall torment them that tormented his soul.
24 Do not thou be friend to a wrathful man, neither go thou with a wrathful man;
25 lest peradventure thou learn his ways, and take cause of stumbling to thy soul.
26 Do not thou be with them that fasten, or bind, their hands, and that proffer themselves to be borrows for debts;
27 for if he hath not whereof he shall restore, what of cause is, that thou take away covering from thy bed?
28 Go thou not over the eld marks [or the old terms], or the boundary stones, which thy fathers have set.
29 Thou hast seen a man smart in his work; he shall stand before kings, and he shall not be before unnoble men.
* CHAPTER 22:20 That is, in three parts of the Old Testament, that be, the law, holy stories, and prophets. (From a “Later Version” gloss.)