CHAP. XX.

WINE is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

Mercy and truth preserve the king; and his throne is upholden by mercy.

CHAP. XXI.

THE king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.

CHAP. XXII.

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and

gold.

The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate.'

For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go;

Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

Remove not the ancient land-mark, which thy fathers have set.

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before

mean men.

CHAP. XXIII.

REMOVE not the old land-mark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless.

For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Be not amongst wine-bibbers; amongst riotous eaters of flesh:

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixt wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

CHAP. XXIV.

My son fear thou the Lord, and the king; and meddle not with them that are given to change:

For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding.

And lo, it was all overgrown with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

Then I saw and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little -folding of the hands to sleep :

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man,