Read the Bible

¹ The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights.

² People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.

³ If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty.

⁴ Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life.

⁵ Honesty makes a good person's life easier, but the wicked will cause their own downfall.

⁶ Righteousness rescues those who are honest, but those who can't be trusted are trapped by their own greed.

⁷ When the wicked die, their hope dies with them. Confidence placed in riches comes to nothing.

⁸ The righteous are protected from trouble; it comes to the wicked instead.

⁹ You can be ruined by the talk of godless people, but the wisdom of the righteous can save you.

¹⁰ A city is happy when honest people have good fortune, and there are joyful shouts when the wicked die.

¹¹ A city becomes great when the righteous give it their blessing; but a city is brought to ruin by the words of the wicked.

¹² It is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are smart, you will keep quiet.

¹³ No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy.

^14 (a)A nation will fall if it has no guidance. Many advisers mean security.

¹⁵ If you promise to pay a stranger's debt, you will regret it. You are better off if you don't get involved.

¹⁶ A gracious woman is respected, but a woman without virtue is a disgrace.

Lazy people will never have money,^[a] but aggressive people will get rich.

¹⁷ You do yourself a favor when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.

¹⁸ Wicked people do not really gain anything, but if you do what is right, you are certain to be rewarded.

¹⁹ Anyone who is determined to do right will live, but anyone who insists on doing wrong will die.

²⁰ The Lord hates evil-minded people, but loves those who do right.

²¹ You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape.

²² Beauty in a woman without good judgment is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.

²³ What good people want always results in good; when the wicked get what they want, everyone is angry.^[b]

²⁴ Some people spend their money freely and still grow richer. Others are cautious, and yet grow poorer.

²⁵ Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped.

²⁶ People curse someone who hoards grain, waiting for a higher price, but they praise the one who puts it up for sale.

²⁷ If your goals are good, you will be respected, but if you are looking for trouble, that is what you will get.

²⁸ Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer.

²⁹ Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end.

Foolish people will always be servants to the wise.

³⁰ Righteousness^[c] gives life, but violence^[d] takes it away.

^31 (b)Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished.