Proverbs 20 - Modern English Version

¹ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler; whoever is seduced by it is not wise.

² The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion; he who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³ It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but any fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴ The sluggard will not plow in season; he will beg at harvest and have nothing.

⁵ Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶ Many a man will proclaim each his own goodness, but a loyal man, who can find?

⁷ The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed are his children after him.

⁸ A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows out all evil with his eyes.

⁹ Who can say, “I have made my heart pure, I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰ Differing weights and differing measures, both are an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹ Even a child is known by his deeds, whether his conduct be pure, and whether it be right.

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

¹³ Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have enough bread.

¹⁴ “It is no good, it is no good,” says the buyer, but when he goes his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵ There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶ Take the garment of him who has put up security for a stranger, and hold it as a pledge for a foreigner.

¹⁷ The bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward is his mouth filled with gravel.

¹⁸ Every purpose is established by counsel; so by wise counsel wage war.

¹⁹ He who goes about as a slanderer betrays secrets; therefore associate not with the babbler.

²⁰ He who vilifies his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in deep darkness.

²¹ An inheritance gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.

²² Do not say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait on the Lord, and He will save you.

²³ Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and scales of deceit are not good.

²⁴ The steps of a man are directed by the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way?

²⁵ It is a snare for a man to devote rashly a thing as holy, and after making vows to reconsider his consecration.

²⁶ A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷ The spirit of man is the light of the Lord, searching all the innermost depths of the heart.

²⁸ Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is sustained by love.

²⁹ The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰ The blows of a wound cleanse away evil, so beatings purge the innermost depths of the heart.