Instead of a friend become not an enemy to thy neighbour: for an evil man shall inherit reproach and shame, so shall every sinner that is envious and double tongued.

Extol not thyself in the thoughts of thy soul like a bull: lest thy strength be quashed by folly,

And it eat up thy leaves, and destroy thy fruit, and thou be left as a dry tree in the wilderness.

For a wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it, and maketh him to be a joy to his enemies, and shall lead him into the lot of the wicked.

A sweet word multiplieth friends, and appeaseth enemies, and a gracious tongue in a good man aboundeth.

Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy counsellor.

If thou wouldst get a friend, try him before thou takest him, and do not credit him easily.

For there is a friend for his own occasion, and he will not abide in the day of thy trouble.

And there is a friend that turneth to enmity; and there is a friend that will disclose hatred and strife and reproaches.

And there is a friend a companion at the table, and he will not abide in the day of distress.

A friend if he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself, and shall act with confidence among them of thy household.

If he humble himself before thee, and hide himself from thy face, thou shalt have unanimous friendship for good.

Separate thyself from thy enemies, and take heed of thy friends.

A faithful friend is a strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure.

Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity.

A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that fear the Lord, shall find him.

He that feareth God, shall likewise have good friendship: because according to him shall his friend be.

My son, from thy youth up receive instruction, and even to thy grey hairs thou shalt find wisdom.

Come to her as one that plougheth, and soweth, and wait for her good fruits:

For in working about her thou shalt labour a little, and shalt quickly eat of her fruits.

How very unpleasant is wisdom to the unlearned, and the unwise will not continue with her.

She shall be to them as a mighty stone of trial, and they will cast her from them before it be long.

For the wisdom of doctrine is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many, but with them to whom she is known, she continueth even to the sight of God.

Give ear, my son, and take wise counsel, and cast not away my advice.

Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chains:

Bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her bands.

Come to her with all thy mind, and keep her ways with all thy power.

Search for her, and she shall be made known to thee, and when thou hast gotten her, let her not go:

For in the latter end thou shalt find rest in her, and she shall be turned to thy joy.

Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and a firm foundation, and her chain a robe of glory:

For in her is the beauty of life, and her bands are a healthful binding.

Thou shalt put her on as a robe of glory, and thou shalt set her upon thee as a crown of joy.

My son, if thou wilt attend to me, thou shalt learn: and if thou wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be wise.

If thou wilt incline thy ear, thou shalt receive instruction: and if thou love to hear, thou shalt be wise.

Stand in the multitude of ancients that are wise, and join thyself from thy heart to their wisdom, that thou mayst hear every discourse of God, and the sayings of praise may not escape thee.

And if thou see a man of understanding, go to him early in the morning, and let thy foot wear the steps of his doors.

Let thy thoughts be upon the precepts of God, and meditate continually on his commandments: and he will give thee a heart, and the desire of wisdom shall be given to thee.

Do no evils, and no evils shall lay hold of thee.

Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee.

My son, sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold.

Seek not of the Lord a preeminence, nor of the king the seat of honour.

Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart: and desire not to appear wise before the king.

Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities: lest thou fear the person of the powerful, and lay a stumblingblock for thy integrity.

Offend not against the multitude of a city, neither cast thyself in upon the people,

Nor bind sin to sin: for even in one thou shalt not be unpunished.

Be not fainthearted in thy mind:

Neglect not to pray, and to give alms.

Say not: God will have respect to the multitude of my gifts, and when I offer to the most high God, he will accept my offerings.

Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is one that humbleth and exalteth, God who seeth all.

Devise not a lie against thy brother: neither do the like against thy friend.

Be not willing to make any manner of lie: for the custom thereof is not good.

Be not full of words in a multitude of ancients, and repeat not the word in thy prayer.

Hate not laborious works, nor husbandry ordained by the most High.

Number not thyself among the multitude of the disorderly.

Remember wrath, for it will not tarry long.

Humble thy spirit very much: for the vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms.

Do not transgress against thy friend deferring money, nor despise thy dear brother for the sake of gold.

Depart not from a wise and good wife, whom thou hast gotten in the fear of the Lord: for the grace of her modesty is above gold.

Hurt not the servant that worketh faithfully, nor the hired man that giveth thee his life.

Let a wise servant be dear to thee as thy own soul, defraud him not of liberty, nor leave him needy.

Hast thou cattle? have an eye to them: and if they be for thy profit, keep them with thee.

Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood.

Hast thou daughters? have a care of their body, and shew not thy countenance gay towards them.

Marry thy daughter well, and thou shalt do a great work, and give her to a wise man.

If thou hast a wife according to thy soul, cast her not off: and to her that is hateful, trust not thyself. With thy whole heart,

Honour thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother:

Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them: and make a return to them as they have done for thee.

With all thy soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests.

With all thy strength love him that made thee: and forsake not his ministers.

Honour God with all thy soul and give honour to the priests, and purify thyself with thy arms.

Give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the firstfruits and of purifications: and for thy negligences purify thyself with a few.

Offer to the Lord the gift of thy shoulders, and the sacrifice of sanctification, and the firstfruits of the holy things:

And stretch out thy hand to the poor, that thy expiation and thy blessing may be perfected.

A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace from the dead.

Be not wanting in comforting them that weep, and walk with them that mourn.

Be not slow to visit the sick: for by these things thou shalt be confirmed in love.

In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.

Strive not with a powerful man, lest thou fall into his hands.

Contend not with a rich man, lest he bring an action against thee.

For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them.

Strive not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not wood upon his fire.

Communicate not with an ignorant man, lest he speak ill of thy family.

Despise not a man that turneth away from sin, nor reproach him therewith: remember that we are all worthy of reproof.

Despise not a man in his old age; for we also shall become old.

Rejoice not at the death of thy enemy; knowing that we all die, and are not willing that others should rejoice at our death.

Despise not the discourse of them that are ancient and wise, but acquaint thyself with their proverbs.

For of them thou shalt learn wisdom, and instruction of understanding, and to serve great men without blame.

Let not the discourse of the ancients escape thee, for they have learned of their fathers:

For of them thou shalt learn understanding, and to give an answer in time of need.

Kindle not the coals of sinners by rebuking them, lest thou be burnt with the flame of the fire of their sins.

Stand not against the face of an injurious person, lest he sit as a spy to entrap thee in thy words.

Lend not to a man that is mightier than thyself: and if thou lendest, count it as lost.

Be not surety above thy power: and if thou be surety, think as if thou wert to pay it.

Judge not against a judge: for he judgeth according to that which is just.

Go not on the way with a bold man, lest he burden thee with his evils: for he goeth according to his own will, and thou shalt perish together with his folly.

Quarrel not with a passionate man, and go not into the desert with a bold man: for blood is as nothing in his sight, and where there is no help he will overthrow thee.

Advise not with fools, for they cannot love but such things as please them.

Before a stranger do no matter of counsel: for thou knowest not what he will bring forth.

Open not thy heart to every man: lest he repay thee with an evil turn, and speak reproachfully to thee.

Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she shew in thy regard the malice of a wicked lesson.

Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy strength, and thou be confounded.

Look not upon a woman that hath a mind for many: lest thou fall into her snares.

Use not much the company of her that is a dancer, and hearken not to her, lest thou perish by the force of her charms.

Gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumblingblock to thee.

Give not thy soul to harlots in any point: lest thou destroy thyself and thy inheritance.

Look not round about thee in the ways of the city, nor wander up and down in the streets thereof.

Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another’s beauty.

For many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby lust is enkindled as a fire.

Every woman that is a harlot, shall be trodden upon as dung in the way.

Many by admiring the beauty of another man’s wife, have become reprobate, for her conversation burneth as fire.

Sit not at all with another man’s wife, nor repose upon the bed with her:

And strive not with her over wine, lest thy heart decline towards her and by thy blood thou fall into destruction.

Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him.

A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure.

Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be.

Be not pleased with the wrong done by the unjust, knowing that even to hell the wicked shall not please.

Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, so thou shalt not suspect the fear of death.

And if thou come to him, commit no fault, lest he take away thy life.

Know it to be a communication with death: for thou art going in the midst of snares, and walking upon the arms of them that are grieved.

According to thy power beware of thy neighbour, and treat with the wise and prudent.

Let just men be thy guests, and let thy glory be in the fear of God.

And let the thought of God be in thy mind, and all thy discourse on the commandments of the Highest.

Works shall be praised for the hand of the artificers, and the prince of the people for the wisdom of his speech, but the word of the ancients for the sense.

A man full of tongue is terrible in his city, and he that is rash in his word shall be hateful.

A wise judge shall judge his people, and the government of a prudent man shall be steady.

As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers: and what manner of man the ruler of a city is, such also are they that dwell therein.

An unwise king shall be the ruin of his people: and cities shall be inhabited through the prudence of the rulers.

The power of the earth is in the hand of God, and in his time he will raise up a profitable ruler over it.

The prosperity of man is in the hand of God, and upon the person of the scribe he shall lay his honour.

Remember not any injury done thee by thy neighbour, and do thou nothing by deeds of injury.

Pride is hateful before God and men: and all iniquity of nations is execrable.

A kingdom is translated from one people to another, because of injustices, and wrongs, and injuries, and divers deceits.

But nothing is more wicked than the covetous man. Why is earth, and ashes proud?

There is not a more wicked thing than to love money: for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale: because while he liveth he hath cast away his bowels.

All power is of short life. A long sickness is troublesome to the physician.

The physician cutteth off a short sickness: so also a king is to day, and to morrow he shall die.

For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts, and worms.

The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God:

Because his heart is departed from him that made him: for pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end.

Therefore hath the Lord disgraced the assemblies of the wicked, and hath utterly destroyed them.

God hath overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set up the meek in their stead.

God hath made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble of these nations.

The Lord hath overthrown the lands of the Gentiles, and hath destroyed them even to the foundation.

He hath made some of them to wither away, and hath destroyed them, and hath made the memory of them to cease from the earth.

God hath abolished the memory of the proud, and hath preserved the memory of them that are humble in mind.

Pride was not made for men: nor wrath for the race of women.

That seed of men shall be honoured, which feareth God: but that seed shall be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of the Lord.

In the midst of brethren their chief is honourable: so shall they that fear the Lord, be in his eyes.

The fear of God is the glory of the rich, and of the honourable, and of the poor.

Despise not a just man that is poor, and do not magnify a sinful man that is rich.

The great man, and the judge, and the mighty is in honour: and there is none greater than he that feareth God.

They that are free shall serve a servant that is wise: and a man that is prudent and well instructed will not murmur when he is reproved; and he that is ignorant, shall not be honoured.

Extol not thyself in doing thy work, and linger not in the time of distress;

Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread.

My son, keep thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to its desert.

Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who will honour him that dishonoureth his own soul?

The poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear, and there is a man that is honoured for his wealth.

But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth? and he that is glorified in wealth, let him fear poverty.