Chapter 24

¹Do not envy the wicked, nor desire their company,

²for their hearts devise violence, and their lips speak trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;

⁴through knowledge its rooms are filled with precious and pleasing treasures.

⁵A wise person is strong; one with knowledge grows in might.

⁶For by wise guidance you wage your war, and in many counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate they dare not speak.

⁸One who plots evil is called a schemer.

⁹The schemes of folly are sin, and people scorn a mocker.

¹⁰If you falter in times of trouble, your strength is small.

¹¹Rescue those being led to death; save those staggering toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “We knew nothing,” does not He who weighs hearts perceive it? He who guards your soul knows, and He will repay each according to their deeds.

¹³My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴So is wisdom to your soul; if you find it, there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked one, against the dwelling of the righteous; do not plunder their resting place.

¹⁶For the righteous fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked stumble in evil.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, nor let your heart be glad at their stumbling,

¹⁸lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn His anger from them.

¹⁹Do not fret over evildoers, nor envy the wicked,

²⁰for the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

²¹My child, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with rebels,

²²for sudden calamity comes from them, and who knows the ruin of both?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁴Whoever says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” peoples will curse them, nations will denounce them.

²⁵But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶One who gives an honest answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside; make it ready in the field; then build your house.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, nor deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to them as they did to me; I will repay them for their deeds.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one lacking sense,

³¹and behold, it was overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles, its stone wall broken down.

³²I looked and considered it; I saw and received instruction:

³³a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

³⁴and poverty comes like a prowler, and want like an armed person. Proverbs 25 The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 25 – VKJV