1. My whole being takes pleasurein three things,and these are beautiful to the Lordand to human beings:harmony among brothers and sisters,friendship among neighbors,and a wife and husbandwho adapt to each other.
2. My whole being despisesthree types of persons,and I am angered by the way they live:an arrogant poor person,a rich liar,an old adulterer who never learns.
3. If you have gathered nothingin your youth,how then will you find anythingin your old age?
4. How beautiful is sound judgmentin gray-haired womenand finding good advice in elderly men!
5. How beautiful is wisdom in the agedand thought and counselin those who are respectable!
6. Experience is the crown of the agedand respecting the Lordis their claim to fame.
7. In my heart, I would considernine conditions to be happy,and I’ll name a tenth with my tongue—people who are made gladby their children,and who live to see the downfallof their enemies.
8. Happy are thosewho live with sensible wives,who don’t slip with their tongue,and who haven’t been a servant to one inferior to themselves.
9. Happy is the onewho has gained good senseand who is passing this alongto listening ears.
10. How great is one who finds Wisdom,but no one does betterthan the one who fears the Lord.
11. Fear of the Lord surpasses everything;those who possess it are incomparable.
13. Any wound, but not a wound to the heart;and any wickedness,but not a woman’s wickedness!
14. Any attack,but not an attack by those who hate;and any vengeance,but not the vengeance of enemies.
15. No poison is worse than a snake’s poison,and no anger is worsethan an enemy’s anger.
16. I would rather live with a lion or a serpentthan live with a wicked woman.
17. A woman’s wickednesschanges her appearance,and it darkens her face like that of a bear.
18. Her husband sits down amonghis neighborsand unintentionally groans bitterly.
19. Any evil is smallwhen compared to a woman’s evil;may she experience a sinner’s fate.
20. A talkative wife for a quiet husbandis like a sand dunebeneath the feet of an elderly person.
21. Don’t fall for a woman’s beauty,and don’t long for a woman.
22. There will be anger, shamelessness,and utter disgracewhen a wife provides for her husband.
23. A wicked wife causes a humiliated heart,a gloomy face,and a wounded heart.Drooping hands and weakened kneescome from a womanwho doesn’t make her husband happy.
24. Sin began with a woman,and because of her all of us die.
25. Don’t allow an outlet for water,and don’t give a wicked wifefreedom to speak.
26. If she doesn’t do as you say,divorce her.