Episode 176: The eye that mocks his father

Proverbs 22-31

Foolish children and strange women

22 ¹ A good reputation is worth more than riches.

⁴ Those who are humble and fear God live long and prosper.

⁷ The borrower is slave to the lender.

⁹ Blessed are those who give food to the poor.

¹⁴ The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit.

If God hates you, he'll make you fall in.

¹⁵ Children can be foolish sometimes.

Beat it out of them with the rod of correction.

²² Don't rob the poor or oppress the afflicted.

An evil eye

23 ⁶ Don't eat the bread of a person with an evil eye.

¹² Try to learn as much as you can.

^13-14 Beat your children with a rod. It won't kill them. And you'll deliver their souls from hell.

²⁰ Stay away from wine-drinkers and riotous flesh-eaters.

²² Listen to your father, and don't despise your mother when she is old.

²³ Value truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

^27-28 A whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. They lie in wait trying to capture men.

²⁹ Those who drink too much wine have woe, sorrow, contentions, babbling, redness of the eyes, and wounds without cause.

³¹ Don't look at the wine while it is red.

^32-33 Red wine bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. If you drink it, you'll see strange women and utter perverse things.

Every man shall kiss his lips

24 ¹ Don't envy evil people or hang out with them.

¹⁷ Don't rejoice when your enemy falls or stumbles.

²¹ Fear God and the king.

²⁶ Whoever answers a question correctly deserves a kiss.

²⁸ Don't be a false witness against your neighbor.

²⁹ Don't say, "I'll pay you back for what you did to me."

The heart of kings

25 ² It is God's glory to hide things.

³ Kings are so wonderful. Who can know what's in their hearts?

²⁴ It's better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a big house with a brawling woman.

As a dog returns to its vomit

26 ³ Whip horses and strike the backs of fools with rods.

¹¹ Fools return to their folly like dogs return to their vomit.

A very rainy day

27 ¹ Don't brag. You might mess up tomorrow.

² Let others say nice things about you.

¹⁵ A contentious woman is like a very rainy day.

God will make you fat

28 ¹ The righteous are as bold as a lion.

⁵ Those who seek God understand everything.

⁹ If you don't obey God's laws, your prayer will be an abomination to him.

¹⁴ Happy people are always afraid.

²² Whoever tries to get rich quick has an evil eye and will soon be poor.

²⁵ If you trust God, he'll make you fat.

²⁶ If you trust your own heart, you're a fool.

The rod gives wisdom

29 ¹⁵ Hitting children with a rod makes them wise.

¹⁹ You can't correct your servants (slaves) with words.

²⁵ If you trust God, you'll be safe.

The eye that mocks his father

30 ^1-3 This is the word of Agur, who is more brutish than any human, and who has no wisdom or knowledge.

⁴ Who has gone to or from heaven?

Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has collected water in his clothes?

Who has established the ends of the earth?

What is his name, or his son's name?

Can anyone answer these questions?

⁵ Every word of God is pure.

⁶ Don't add to God's words.

^7-8 Give me two (or maybe three) things before I die:

Take away from me vanity and lies, make me neither poor nor rich, and feed me with convenient food.

⁹ Otherwise I will be full and deny you, saying, "Who is God?"

Or I might be poor and take God's name in vain.

¹² There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes but is filthy.

¹³ There is a generation with lofty eyes and eyelids.

¹⁴ There is a generation with sword-like teeth.

^15-16 The horseleach has two daughters, crying, "Give, Give."

There are three (or four) things that are never satisfied:

The grave, the barren womb, the earth that isn't filled with water, and a fire that doesn't talk.

¹⁷ If you mock your father or disobey your mother, the ravens will pick out your eyeball and eagles will eat it.

^18-19 There are three (or four) things that are too wonderful for me: The flight of an eagle, the way a serpent moves on a rock, the way a ship moves on the sea, and the way of man with a girl.

²⁰ That's the way of an adulterous woman: she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, "I've done nothing wrong."

^21-23 There are three (or four) things that the earth can't bear: A slave who becomes king, a fool who is filled with food, an unpleasant woman who is married, and a slave woman who replaces her master.

Who can find a virtuous woman?

31 ¹ Words that King Lemeul's mother taught him.

³ Don't give your strength to women or to those that destroy kings.

⁶ Give strong drink to those who are about to die, and wine to those who are sad.

⁷ Let them drink and forget their poverty and misery.

⁸ Speak out for those who cannot speak.

⁹ Plead the cause of the poor and needy.

¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous woman?