1 A name is chosen rather than abundant wealth {osher: abundant resources}; good favor {chen: gracious acceptance} is better than silver and gold.
2 The rich and the poor meet; the LORD {YHWH, Universal Maker} is the Maker {oseh: creative originator} of them all.
3 A prudent {arum: shrewd, discerning} person saw the evil and hid himself, but the simple passed by and were punished {ne’enashu: received consequences}.
4 The reward of humility {anavah: humble character} and the fear of the LORD {YHWH, Revered Sovereign} is riches, honor, and life.
5 Thorns and snares {pakhim: hidden traps} lie in the path of the crooked {iqqesh: morally twisted}; he who guards his soul will stay far from them.
6 Dedicate a youth {na'ar: youthful learner} according to his way {darko: personal path}; even when he grows old, he will not depart from it.
7 A rich person {ashir: affluent individual} rules over the poor, and a borrower is a slave to a lender {malveh: creditor}.
8 Whoever sows injustice {avlah: moral wrongdoing} will reap calamity, and the rod {shevet: instrument of discipline} of his anger will come to an end.
9 One with a good eye will be blessed {yevorakh: receives blessing}, for he gives of his bread to the poor {dal: one lacking resources}.
10 Drive out the scoffer {leitz: scornful derider}, and strife will go out; legal dispute {din: legal dispute} and disgrace will cease.
11 Whoever loves purity of heart {lev: inner being} and whose lips are gracious {sefatav: gracious speech}, the king will be his friend.
12 The eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Watchful Guardian} keep knowledge {da’at: revealed understanding}, but He overturns the words of the traitor.
13 The sluggard {atsel: habitually lazy person} says, “There is a lion outside; I will be slain in the open squares {rechovot: broad public spaces}.”
14 The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit {shukhah: dangerous trap}; he who is abhorred by the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} will fall there.
15 Folly {ivvelet: moral foolishness} is bound up in the heart of a youth, but the rod of discipline {musar: corrective instruction} will drive it far from him.
16 One who oppresses {oshek: unjust extortion} the poor to enrich himself and one who gives to the rich will surely come to poverty {machsor: destitution}.
17 Incline your ear and hear {shma: active reception} the words of the wise, and let your heart set itself to my knowledge {le-dati: the insight I possess}.
18 For it is pleasant {naʿîm: delightful or agreeable} if you keep them within your inner being {bevitneka: inward location}; together they will be established upon your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the LORD {YHWH, Trustworthy Refuge}, I have made known to you today, even you {af-ʾattāh: emphatic address}.
20 Have I not written to you thirty sayings {shalishim: thirty sayings} in counsels {moetzot: wise guidance} and knowledge?
21 To make you know the certainty {kosḥt: firm reliability} of words of truth, so that you may return words of truth to your senders {lesholchekha: those who dispatch you}.
22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not oppress the afflicted {ani: bowed-down one} at the gate {sha’ar: place of judgment}.
23 For the LORD {YHWH, Champion of Helpless} will plead their case and will take the soul {nefesh: vital life-force} of those who take from them.
24 Do not befriend a possessor of anger {baʿal af: one controlled by fierce anger}, and do not go with a man of wrath {ish chemot: person prone to outbursts}.
25 Lest you learn his ways {orachotav: habitual conduct} and take a snare {mokesh: hidden trap} for your soul.
26 Do not be among those who strike hands {tok'ei-kaf: pledge gesture} or among those who become sureties for debts {masa'ot: financial obligations}.
27 If you have nothing with which to pay {le-shallem: settle a debt}, why should he seize your bed {miskavkha: sleeping place} from beneath you?
28 Do not shift the ancient boundary {gevul: property marker} that your fathers {avot: ancestral line} set.
29 Have you seen a man skillful in his work {malakhah: craft}? He will take his place before kings; he will not take his place before obscure men {chashukim: dishonored persons}.