1The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights.

2People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.

3If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty.

4Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life.

5Honesty makes a good person's life easier, but the wicked will cause their own downfall.

6Righteousness rescues those who are honest, but those who can't be trusted are trapped by their own greed.

7When the wicked die, their hope dies with them. Confidence placed in riches comes to nothing.

8The righteous are protected from trouble; it comes to the wicked instead.

9You can be ruined by the talk of godless people, but the wisdom of the righteous can save you.

10A city is happy when honest people have good fortune, and there are joyful shouts when the wicked die.

11A city becomes great when the righteous give it their blessing; but a city is brought to ruin by the words of the wicked.

12It is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are smart, you will keep quiet.

13No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy.

14 A nation will fall if it has no guidance. Many advisers mean security.

15If you promise to pay a stranger's debt, you will regret it. You are better off if you don't get involved.

16A gracious woman is respected, but a woman without virtue is a disgrace.

Lazy people will never have money,+ but aggressive people will get rich.

17You do yourself a favor when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.

18Wicked people do not really gain anything, but if you do what is right, you are certain to be rewarded.

19Anyone who is determined to do right will live, but anyone who insists on doing wrong will die.

20The Lord hates evil-minded people, but loves those who do right.

21You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape.

22Beauty in a woman without good judgment is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.

23What good people want always results in good; when the wicked get what they want, everyone is angry.+

24Some people spend their money freely and still grow richer. Others are cautious, and yet grow poorer.

25Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped.

26People curse someone who hoards grain, waiting for a higher price, but they praise the one who puts it up for sale.

27If your goals are good, you will be respected, but if you are looking for trouble, that is what you will get.

28Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer.

29Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end.

Foolish people will always be servants to the wise.

30Righteousness+ gives life, but violence+ takes it away.

31 Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished.