PROVERBS 17:7-25

⁷Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

⁸A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

⁹He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: but he that harpeth on a matter separateth chief friends.

¹⁰A rebuke entereth deeper into one that hath understanding than an hundred stripes into a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeketh only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

¹²Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

¹³Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before there be quarrelling.

¹⁵He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, seeing he hath no understanding?

¹⁷A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his neighbour.

¹⁹He loveth transgression that loveth strife: he that raiseth high his gate seeketh destruction.

²⁰He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

²¹He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

²²A merry heart is a good medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.

²³A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of judgment.

²⁴Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding: but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.