Contemporary English Version 1A worker who is always drunk will never get rich, and people who are careless with small things will gradually slip into poverty. 2Even a wise man can be deceived by wine and women, and men who visit prostitutes are taking terrible risks. 3Death will come suddenly, then their bodies will rot and be eaten by worms. 4If you trust people too quickly, you aren't very smart. If you sin, you harm yourself. 5And if you are happy about evil, you will be judged guilty. Rumors and Gossip 6Trouble doesn't stay where gossip is hated. 7It doesn't cost you a thing to forget a rumor. 8So don't tell it to your enemies or even your friends, unless you would be doing wrong by not speaking up. 9People may be listening and watching, and if you repeat gossip, they might start hating you. 10Treat rumors as secrets to be kept until you die; they can even make you feel as though you might explode, but be brave--you won't. 11It's harder for a fool not to repeat gossip, than for a woman in labor not to give birth 12or a soldier to ignore an arrow sticking out of his leg. * 13Talk to friends or neighbors if you hear that they have wronged you or said something to harm your reputation. 14If they didn't do it, you will find out, and if they did, they won't do it again. 15Talk to them and get the truth, because you should not believe everything you hear. 16We are all guilty of saying things that we didn't really mean. 17So don't threaten your friends before you talk with them, and always obey the Law of God Most High. Fear the Lord 18 If you fear the Lord, he will accept you, and if you are wise, he will give you his love. 19If you learn and follow the Lord's commands, you will please him, and he will allow you to eat fruit from the tree that lets you live forever. 20Fearing the Lord and obeying his Law are really the same as having wisdom. 21If slaves refuse to do what they are told, their master will be angry even if they later obey. 22Sin isn't the source of Wisdom, and so sinners cannot give good advice. 23Some people are clever in doing disgusting things; others are fools only because they never learned wisdom. 24It is better to fear the Lord and not be so intelligent, than to be very smart and to break his Law. 25Some people are highly skilled at being unfair and can even twist your kindness to help them win their case in court. 26Some dishonest people act like they are mourning, 27hiding their faces from you and pretending not to listen. But they will use your words to take advantage of you when no one is looking. 28They may not be able to do so now, but they will wrong you the first chance they get. 29Merely by looking at people you know what they are like. And the first time you meet, you can tell if someone has good sense 30by what they wear and how they walk or laugh. Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®) © 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. Bible text from the Contemporary English Version 2nd Edition (CEV®) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (www.americanbible.org). Learn more at www.cev.bible. Discover .BIBLE resources for your ministry at www.get.bible/cev. |