20:1  Wine is a mocker,
Strong drink is a brawler,
And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

20:2  The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion;
Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life.

20:3  It is honorable for a man to stop striving,
Since any fool can start a quarrel.

20:4  The lazy man will not plow because of winter;
He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,
But a man of understanding will draw it out.

20:6  Most men will proclaim each his own goodness,
But who can find a faithful man?

20:7  The righteous man walks in his integrity;
His children are blessed after him.

20:8  A king who sits on the throne of judgment
Scatters all evil with his eyes.

20:9  Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin”?

20:10  Diverse weights and diverse measures,
They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.

20:11  Even a child is known by his deeds,
Whether what he does is pure and right.

20:12  The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
The LORD has made them both.

20:13  Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty;
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.

20:14  “ It is good for nothing,” cries the buyer;
But when he has gone his way, then he boasts.

20:15  There is gold and a multitude of rubies,
But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

20:16  Take the garment of one who is surety for a stranger,
And hold it as a pledge when it is for a seductress.

20:17  Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

20:18  Plans are established by counsel;
By wise counsel wage war.

20:19  He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets;
Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.

20:20  Whoever curses his father or his mother,
His lamp will be put out in deep darkness.

20:21  An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning
Will not be blessed at the end.

20:22  Do not say, “I will recompense evil”;
Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

20:23  Diverse weights are an abomination to the LORD,
And dishonest scales are not good.

20:24  A man’s steps are of the LORD;
How then can a man understand his own way?

20:25  It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy,
And afterward to reconsider his vows.

20:26  A wise king sifts out the wicked,
And brings the threshing wheel over them.

20:27  The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD,
Searching all the inner depths of his heart.

20:28  Mercy and truth preserve the king,
And by lovingkindness he upholds his throne.

20:29  The glory of young men is their strength,
And the splendor of old men is their gray head.

20:30  Blows that hurt cleanse away evil,
As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.