CHAPTER 27
1 Many men have trespassed for neediness [or mis-ease]; and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eye.
2 As a stake [or a pale] is fastened in the midst of a heap [or a joining] of stones, so and a man shall be an-guished by sins betwixt the midst of selling and buying. Trespass shall be all-broken with him that trespasseth.
3 If thou holdest not thee diligently in the dread of the Lord, thine house shall soon be turned upside-down.
4 As dust shall dwell in the holes of a riddle, so the anguish of a man shall dwell in the thoughts of him.
5 A furnace proveth the vessels of a potter; and the temptation of tribu-lation proveth just [or rightwise] men.
6 As churl-like travail [or earth-working] about a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word of thought showeth the heart of man.
7 Praise thou not a man before a word fully ended; for why this is the temptation, that is, proving, of men.
8 If thou pursuest rightfulness [or followest rightwiseness], thou shalt take it; thou shalt clothe it as a long cloth [or aube] of honour, and thou shalt dwell with it, and it shall defend thee without end, and in the day of knowing thou shalt find steadfastness.
9 Volatiles [or Fowls] come together to birds like themselves; and truth shall turn again to them that work it.
10 A lion setteth espies ever to hunting [or A lion to hunting waiteth evermore]; so sins to them that work wickedness.
11 An holy man dwelleth in wisdom, as the sun dwelleth; for why a fool is changed as the moon.
12 In the midst of unwise men keep thou a word to time; but be thou busy in the midst of them that think the law of God.
13 The telling of sinners is hateful; and the laughing of them is in the trespasses of sin.
14 Speech swearing much shall make standing up of hairs, for aston-ishing, to the head; and unreverence thereof [or irreverence of it] is stop-ping of ears.
15 The shedding out of blood is in the chiding [or jangling] of proud men; and the cursing of them is grievous hearing, for in their chiding they blaspheme God often, and it is full grievous to faithful ears to hear such blasphemy of God.
16 He that showeth openly the privates of a friend, loseth faithfulness [or the faith of a friend]; and he shall not find a friend to his soul.
17 Love thou a neighbour, and be thou joined with him in faith. For if thou showest openly the privates of him, thou shalt not perfectly pursue after him [or pursue thou not after him].
18 For as a man that loseth his friend, so he that loseth the friendship of his neighbour.
19 And as a man that letteth go a bird from [or out of] his hand, so thou that hast forsaken thy neighbour, and thou shalt not take him.
20 Thou shalt not pursue [or follow] him, for he is far absent [or away]; for he escaped as a capret from a snare, for the soul of him is wounded.
21 Thou shalt no more be able to bind him together; but of evil saying is according. Soothly to show openly the privates of a friend, is despair of a soul unblessed, [or To make naked forsooth the privates of a friend, is the despairing of the unfaithful soul].
22 He that twinkleth with the eye, maketh [or forgeth] wicked things; and no man shall cast him away.
23 In the sight of thine eyes he shall defoul his mouth, and he shall wonder on thy words; but at the last he shall turn waywardly [or shall pervert] his mouth, and in his word [or in thy words] he shall give slander.
24 I [have] heard many things, that is, evils, and I made them not even to him, yea, I areckoned not another malice even to the malice of this man; and the Lord shall hate him.
25 If a man casteth a stone on high, it shall fall on his head; and the guileful wound of a guileful [or treacherous] man shall part wounds.
26 And he that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and he that setteth a stone to a neighbour, shall offend therein [or stumble in it]; and he that setteth a snare to another man, shall perish therein.
27 If a man maketh worst [or wicked] counsel, it shall be turned on him; and he shall not know from whence it shall come to him.
28 The scorning and despising of proud men and vengeance shall set espy to him, as a lion doeth. [Illusion, or scorn, and reproof of proud men and vengeance, as a lion shall espy to him.]
29 They that delight in the fall of just [or rightwise] men, shall perish by a snare; forsooth sorrow shall waste them, before that they die.
30 Ire [or Wrath] and madness or rage, ever either be abominable; and a sinful man shall hold those [or them].