1 Wine is a mocker and strong drink is a brawler;
whoever goes astray by them is not wise.
2 The king’s terrifying anger is like the roar of a lion;
whoever provokes him sins against himself.
3 It is an honor for a person to cease from strife,
but every fool quarrels.
4 The sluggard will not plow during the planting season,
so at harvest time he asks for grain but has nothing.
5 Counsel in a person’s heart is like deep water,
but an understanding person draws it out.
6 Many people profess their loyalty,
but a faithful person—who can find?
7 The righteous person behaves in integrity;
blessed are his children after him.
8 A king sitting on the throne to judge
separates out all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart clean;
I am pure from my sin”?
10 Diverse weights and diverse measures—
the Lord abhors both of them.
11 Even a young man is known by his actions,
whether his activity is pure and whether it is right.
12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees—
the Lord has made them both.
13 Do not love sleep, lest you become impoverished;
open your eyes so that you might be satisfied with food.
14 “It’s worthless! It’s worthless!” says the buyer,
but when he goes on his way, he boasts.
15 There is gold, and an abundance of rubies,
but words of knowledge are like a precious jewel.
16 Take a man’s garment when he has given security for a stranger,
and hold him in pledge on behalf of strangers.
17 Bread gained by deceit tastes sweet to a person,
but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
18 Plans are established by counsel,
so make war with guidance.
19 The one who goes about gossiping reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with someone who is always opening his mouth.
20 The one who curses his father and his mother,
his lamp will be extinguished in the blackest darkness.
21 An inheritance gained easily in the beginning
will not be blessed in the end.
22 Do not say, “I will pay back evil!”
Wait for the Lord, so that he may vindicate you.
23 The Lord abhors differing weights,
and dishonest scales are wicked.
24 The steps of a person are ordained by the Lord—
so how can anyone understand his own way?
25 It is a snare for a person to rashly cry, “Holy!”
and only afterward to consider what he has vowed.
26 A wise king separates out the wicked;
he turns the threshing wheel over them.
27 The human spirit is like the lamp of the Lord,
searching all his innermost parts.
28 Loyal love and truth preserve a king,
and his throne is upheld by loyal love.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
and the splendor of old men is gray hair.
30 Beatings and wounds cleanse away evil,
and floggings cleanse the innermost being.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also obtained access into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. 3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed. 15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be constituted righteous. 20 Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.