1. My child, if you have sinned,don’t do it any longer,and pray concerning your previous sins.
2. Run away from sinlike you would from a snake:If you go near it, it will bite you.Its teeth are lion’s teeth,destroying a person’s life.
3. All lawlessness is a two-edged sword,and there’s no healing for its wound.
4. Alarm and insolence will strip away wealth;thus will an arrogant person’s housebe uprooted.
5. The petition of the poor goesfrom their mouth to God’s ears,and his judgment comes quickly.
6. Anyone who hates reproofwalks in the footsteps of a sinner,and those who fear the Lordwill turn back to him from the heart.
7. Those who are powerful in speechare widely known,but those who are thoughtfulknow when they slip.
8. Those who build their houseswith another person’s moneyare like those who gather stonesfor their own burial mound.
9. A gathering of lawless peopleis the same as bundled flax;their end is a flaming fire.
10. The path of sinnersis made level with stones,but its end is the pit of hell.
11. Those who keep the Lawbecome masters of their thoughts;fearing the Lordleads ultimately to wisdom.
12. Those who aren’t cleverwon’t receive instruction,but there is a kind of clevernessthat makes troubles multiply.
13. The knowledge of the wisewill increase like a flood,and their counsel is likea stream of life.
14. The mind of a fool is like a broken jar:it can’t hold knowledge.
15. If those who understandhear a wise word;they will praise it and add to it.Those who like to indulge themselveshear it and are displeased,and they turn their back on it.
16. A fool’s endless talkis a burden while on a journey,but grace will be foundon the lips of the intelligent.