Wine Is a Mocker

1It is a luxurious thing, wine, and inebriation is tumultuous. Anyone who is delighted by this will not be wise.

2Just like the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king. Whoever provokes him sins in his own soul.

3Honor is for the man who separates himself from contentions. But all the foolish meddle in altercations.

4Because of the cold, the lazy one was not willing to plough. Therefore, in the summer, he will beg, and it will not be given to him.

5Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep waters. But a wise man will draw it out.

6Many men are called merciful. But who will find a faithful man?

7The just who walks in his simplicity shall leave behind him blessed sons.

8The king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his gaze.

9Who is able to say: “My heart is clean. I am pure from sin?”

10Diverse weights, diverse measures: both are abominable with God.

11A child may be understood by his interests: whether his works may be clean and upright.

12The hearing ear and the seeing eye: the Lord has made them both.

13Do not love sleep, lest deprivation oppress you. Open your eyes and be satisfied with bread.

14“It is bad, it is bad,” says every buyer; and when he has withdrawn, then he will boast.

15There is gold, and there are a multitude of jewels. But lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.

16Take away the vestments of him who stands up to vouch for a stranger, and take a pledge from him instead of from outsiders.

17The bread of lies is sweet to a man. But afterwards, his mouth will be filled with pebbles.

18Plans are strengthened by counsels. And wars are to be handled by governments.

19Do not become involved with him who reveals mysteries, and who walks deceitfully, and who enlarges his lips.

20Whoever curses his father and mother, his lamp will be extinguished in the midst of darkness.

21When an inheritance is obtained hastily in the beginning, in the end it will be without a blessing.

22Do not say, “I will repay evil.” Wait for the Lord, and he will free you.

23Diverse weights are an abomination with the Lord. A deceitful balance is not good.

24The steps of men are directed by the Lord. But who is the man able to understand his own way?

25It is ruin for a man to devour what is holy, or, after making vows, to retract them.

26A wise king scatters the impious and bends an archway over them.

27The spirit of a man is a lamp to the Lord, which investigates all the secrets of the inner self.

28Mercy and truth guard the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency.

29The joy of youths is their strength. And the dignity of old men is their grey hairs.

30The bruise of a wound, as well as scourges, shall wipe away evils in the more secret places of the inner self.