12. Count among your treasures the fact that you give to the poor. It will save you from all kinds of trouble
13. and will be a better defence against your enemies than the strongest shield or stoutest spear.
14. A good man is willing to guarantee his neighbour's debts. Only someone who has lost all sense of decency would refuse to do so.
15. If someone does this favour for you, don't forget it; he has risked his good name for you.
16. There are some ungrateful sinners who abandon those who stand behind them, and they cause them loss of property.
17. Guaranteeing loans has ruined many prosperous people and caused them unsettling storms of trouble.
18. Influential people have lost their homes over it and have had to go wandering in foreign countries.
19. A sinner who hopes to make a profit by guaranteeing a loan is going to find himself involved in lawsuits.
20. So help your neighbour as much as you can, but protect yourself against the dangers involved.
21. The necessities of life are water, food, clothing, and a home where you can have privacy.
22. It is better to be poor and live under your own crude roof than to enjoy lavish banquets in other people's homes.
23. Be happy with what you have, even if it isn't very much, and don't listen to anyone who would insult your home and family.
24. Going from house to house is a miserable way to live. Anywhere you go, you don't dare to speak.
25. You welcome the guests and pour the drinks, and nobody thanks you. Instead, people humiliate you by saying things like:
26. “Stranger! Come here and lay the table! I want to eat what you've got there! Give it here!
27. Go away, stranger! I've got an important guest! My brother is coming to visit, and I need the room!”
28. Being denied hospitality or having a moneylender hound you — these are hard things for any sensitive person to endure.