Proverbs 24

Wise words

1Do not want for yourself what bad people have. Do not want to be with them.

2To cause trouble is all that they think about. They say that they will hurt people.

3A wise man needs good plans to build a house.

4When he knows what to do, he can fill his rooms with beautiful and valuable things.

5A wise man is better than a strong man. To know about things makes a man stronger.

6You must think carefully before you go to war. You can win only if you listen to the words of many wise men.

7A fool cannot understand wise words. He has nothing to say about important things.

8People will know the man who makes plans to do bad things.

9Any idea that a fool thinks about is a sin. People hate a person who causes other people to seem like fools.

10If you are weak in times of trouble, you are very weak.

11You may see people who are leading a man to his death. Or you may see people who are going to their own death. Then you should save those people.

12You may say that you knew nothing about this. But God knows your thoughts. He knows whether they are right or wrong. He always watches you. He will give gifts to you because of what you have done. He will punish you for what you have not done.

13Son, eat honey. It is good for you. Honey is sweet when you taste it.

14In the same way, wise words are good for your life. If you find them, you will have hope for future days. What you hope for will not come to an end.

15Some bad people rob honest people. Do not be like them. Do not destroy the homes of honest people.

16Trouble might happen 7 times to honest people and they may make mistakes. But in the end, all will be well. But trouble will destroy bad people.

17Do not be happy when trouble happens to your enemies. Do not feel happy when they make mistakes.

18The LORD will know if you laugh about the troubles of your enemies. He will not like it. Then he might not punish them.

19Do not be afraid of bad people. Do not want to be like them.

20A bad man will not have anything good in future times. He will not have anything to hope for.

21Be afraid of the LORD and of the king, my son. Obey them. Do not be friends with people who do not obey them.

22The life of a man can change in a moment. God and the king can cause problems that could destroy those men.

More wise words

23These are also proverbs of wise people.

Judges must say fairly who is wrong or right. They should not always say that their friends are right. And they should not always say that their enemies are wrong. It is not good if they do those things.

24A judge must not say to a bad person, ‘You are a good person.’ If the judge does say that, everyone will shout bad words against him.

25It will be well with judges who punish bad people. God will do good things on their behalf.

26A true friend gives an honest answer.

27Finish the work outside and in your fields. After that, build your house.

28Do not say wrong things about a person who lives near to you. Do not tell lies about him.

29Do not say, ‘I will do to him what he did to me. I will punish that man because of what he did.’

30I walked past the field of a lazy person. And I walked past the vineyard of a silly person.

31There were weeds over all the ground. And the wall of stones round them had fallen down.

32I looked at this and I thought about it. Then I learned a lesson.

33Perhaps you say, ‘I will sleep for a short time. I will put my hands together and I will rest.’

34But while you are asleep you will become poor. You will become as poor as when a man had robbed you. You will be as if a soldier had taken away all your things.