1 A good name is to be more desired than great wealth;
Favor is better than silver and gold.
2 The rich and the poor have a common bond,
The Lord is the Maker of them all.
3 A prudent person sees evil and hides himself,
But the naive proceed, and pay the penalty.
4 The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord
Are riches, honor, and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
One who guards himself will be far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.
7 The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
8 One who sows injustice will reap disaster,
And the rod of his fury will perish.
9 One who is generous will be blessed,
Because he gives some of his food to the poor.
10 Drive out the scoffer, and strife will leave,
Even quarreling and dishonor will cease.
11 One who loves purity of heart
And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord protect knowledge,
But He overthrows the words of the treacherous person.
13 The lazy one says, “There is a lion outside;
I will be killed in the streets!”
14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit;
He who is cursed of the Lord will fall into it.
15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
16 One who oppresses the poor to make more for himself,
Or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
17 Extend your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your mind to my knowledge;
18 For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
So that they may be ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in the Lord,
I have taught you today, you indeed.
20 Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
21 To make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
So that you may correctly answer him who sent you?
22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Nor crush the needy at the gate;
23 For the Lord will plead their case
And take the life of those who rob them.
24 Do not make friends with a person given to anger,
Or go with a hot-tempered person,
25 Or you will learn his ways
And find a snare for yourself.
26 Do not be among those who shake hands,
Among those who become guarantors for debts.
27 If you have nothing with which to repay,
Why should he take your bed from under you?
28 Do not move the ancient boundary
Which your fathers have set.
29 Do you see a person skilled in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before obscure people.
1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is alive she gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she gives herself to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were brought to light by the Law, were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Far from it! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by bringing about my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. 17 But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.