The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Thou seest that a diligent man in his businesse standeth before Kings, and standeth not before the base sort.

When thou sittest to eate with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee,

And put the knife to thy throte, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite.

Be not desirous of his deintie meates: for it is a deceiuable meate.

Trauaile not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdome.

Wilt thou cast thine eyes vpon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an eagle, and flyeth into the heauen.

Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates.

For as though he thought it in his heart, so will hee say vnto thee, Eate and drinke: but his heart is not with thee.

Thou shalt vomit thy morsels that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweete wordes.

Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisdome of thy wordes.

Remooue not the ancient boundes, and enter not into the fieldes of the fatherlesse.

For he that redeemeth them, is mightie: he will defend their cause against thee.

Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine eares to the wordes of knowledge.

Withhold not correction from the childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die.

Thou shalt smite him with the rodde, and shalt deliuer his soule from hell.

My sonne, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall reioyce, and I also.

And my reynes shall reioyce, when thy lips speake righteous things.

Let not thine heart bee enuious against sinners: but let it bee in the feare of the Lord continually.

For surely there is an ende, and thy hope shall not be cut off.

O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Keepe not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons.

For the drunkard and the glutton shall bee poore, and the sleeper shalbe clothed with ragges.

Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.

Bye the trueth, but sell it not: likewise wisdome, and instruction, and vnderstanding.

The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce, and hee that begetteth a wise childe, shall haue ioy of him.

Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall reioyce.

My sonne, giue mee thine heart, and let thine eyes delite in my wayes.

For a whore is as a deepe ditche, and a strange woman is as a narrowe pitte.

Also she lyeth in wait as for a praye, and she increaseth the transgressers among men.

To whome is woe? to whome is sorowe? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are woundes without cause? and to whome is the rednesse of the eyes?

Euen to them that tarie long at the wine, to them that goe, and seeke mixt wine.

Looke not thou vpon the wine, when it is red, and when it sheweth his colour in the cup, or goeth downe pleasantly.

In the ende thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrise.

Thine eyes shall looke vpon strange women, and thine heart shall speake lewde things.

And thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middes of the sea, and as hee that sleepeth in the toppe of the maste.

They haue stricken mee, shalt thou say, but I was not sicke: they haue beaten mee, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seeke it yet still.

Be not thou enuious against euill men, neither desire to be with them.

For their heart imagineth destruction, and their lippes speake mischiefe.

Through wisdome is an house builded, and with vnderstanding it is established.

And by knowledge shall the chambers bee filled with all precious, and pleasant riches.

A wise man is strong: for a man of vnderstanding encreaseth his strength.

For with counsel thou shalt enterprise thy warre, and in the multitude of them that can giue counsell, is health.

Wisdome is hie to a foole: therefore he can not open his mouth in the gate.

Hee that imagineth to doe euill, men shall call him an autour of wickednes.

The wicked thought of a foole is sinne, and the scorner is an abomination vnto men.

If thou bee faint in the day of aduersitie, thy strength is small.

Deliuer them that are drawen to death: wilt thou not preserue them that are led to be slaine?

If thou say, Beholde, we knew not of it: he that pondereth the heartes, doeth not hee vnderstand it? and hee that keepeth thy soule, knoweth he it not? will not he also recompense euery man according to his workes?

My sonne, eate hony, for it is good, and the hony combe, for it is sweete vnto thy mouth.

So shall the knowledge of wisdome be vnto thy soule, if thou finde it, and there shall be an ende, and thine hope shall not be cut off.

Laye no waite, O wicked man, against the house of the righteous, and spoyle not his resting place.

For a iust man falleth seuen times, and riseth againe: but the wicked fall into mischiefe.

Bee thou not glad when thine enemie falleth, and let not thine heart reioyce when hee stumbleth,

Least the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turne his wrath from him.

Fret not thy selfe because of the malicious, neither be enuious at the wicked.

For there shall bee none ende of plagues to the euill man: the light of the wicked shall bee put out.

My sonne feare the Lord, and the King, and meddle not with them that are sedicious.

For their destruction shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruine of them both?

ALSO THESE THINGS PERTEINE TO THE WISE, It is not good to haue respect of any person in iudgement.

He that saith to the wicked, Thou art righteous, him shall the people curse, and the multitude shall abhorre him.

But to them that rebuke him, shall be pleasure, and vpon them shall come the blessing of goodnesse.

They shall kisse the lippes of him that answereth vpright wordes.

Prepare thy worke without, and make readie thy thinges in the fielde, and after, builde thine house.

Be not a witnes against thy neighbour without cause: for wilt thou deceiue with thy lippes?

Say not, I wil doe to him, as he hath done to mee, I will recompence euery man according to his worke.

I passed by the fielde of the slouthfull, and by the vineyarde of the man destitute of vnderstanding.

And lo, it was al growen ouer with thornes, and nettles had couered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken downe.

Then I behelde, and I considered it well: I looked vpon it, and receiued instruction.

Yet a litle sleepe, a litle slumber, a litle folding of the handes to sleepe.

So thy pouertie commeth as one that traueileth by the way, and thy necessitie like an armed man.

THESE ARE ALSO PARABLES of Salomon, which the men of Hezekiah King of Iudah copied out.

The glorie of God is to conceale a thing secret: but the Kings honour is to search out a thing.

The heaues in height, and the earth in deepenes, and the Kings heart can no man search out.

Take the drosse from the siluer, and there shall proceede a vessell for the finer.

Take away the wicked from the King, and his throne shall be stablished in righteousnes.

Boast not thy selfe before the King, and stand not in the place of great men.

For it is better, that it be saide vnto thee, Come vp hither, then thou to be put lower in the presece of the prince whom thine eyes haue seene.

Goe not foorth hastily to strife, least thou know not what to doe in the ende thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.

Debate thy matter with thy neighbour, and discouer not the secret to another,

Least he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamie doe not cease.

A word spoken in his place, is like apples of golde with pictures of siluer.

He that reprooueth the wise, and the obedient eare, is as a golden earering and an ornament of fine golde.

As the colde of the snowe in the time of haruest, so is a faithfull messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soule of his masters.

A man that boasteth of false liberalitie, is like cloudes and winde without raine.

A Prince is pacified by staying of anger, and a soft tongue breaketh the bones.

If thou haue found hony, eate that is sufficient for thee, least thou be ouerfull, and vomit it.

Withdrawe thy foote from thy neighbours house, least he be weary of thee, and hate thee.

A man that beareth false witnes against his neighbour, is like an hammer and a sword, and a sharpe arrowe.

Confidence in an vnfaythfull man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth and a sliding foote.

Hee that taketh away the garment in the colde season, is like vineger powred vpon nitre, or like him that singeth songs to an heauy heart.

If hee that hateth thee be hungry, giue him bread to eate, and if he be thirstie, giue him water to drinke.

For thou shalt lay coles vpon his head, and the Lord shall recompense thee.

As the Northwinde driueth away the raine, so doeth an angry countenance the slandering tongue.

It is better to dwell in a corner of the house top, then with a contentious woman in a wide house.

As are the colde waters to a weary soule, so is good newes from a farre countery.

A righteous man falling downe before the wicked, is like a troubled well, and a corrupt spring.

It is not good to eate much hony: so to search their owne glory is not glory.

A man that refraineth not his appetite, is like a citie which is broken downe and without walles.

As the snowe in the sommer, and as the raine in the haruest are not meete, so is honour vnseemely for a foole.

As the sparowe by flying, and the swallow by flying escape, so the curse that is causeles, shall not come.