¹ A mild answer turns away wrath, sharp words stir up anger.

² The tongue of the wise makes knowledge welcome, the mouth of a fool spews folly.

³ The eyes of Yahweh are everywhere: observing the wicked and the good.

⁴ The tongue that soothes is a tree of life; the perverse tongue, a breaker of hearts.

⁵ Only a fool spurns a father's discipline, whoever accepts correction is discreet.

⁶ In the house of the upright there is no lack of treasure, the earnings of the wicked are fraught with anxiety.

⁷ The lips of the wise spread knowledge, not so the hearts of fools.

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is abhorrent to Yahweh, dear to him is the prayer of the honest.

⁹ The conduct of the wicked is abhorrent to Yahweh, but he loves the person whose goal is uprightness.

¹⁰ Correction is severe for one who leaves the way; whoever hates being reprimanded will die.

¹¹ Sheol and Perdition lie open to Yahweh; how much more the human heart!

¹² The mocker does not care to be reprimanded, and will not choose the wise as companions.

¹³ Glad heart means happy face, where the heart is sad the spirit is broken.

¹⁴ The heart of the wise seeks knowledge, a fool's mouth feeds on folly.

¹⁵ For the poor every day is evil, for the joyous heart it is always festival time.

¹⁶ Better to have little and with it fear of Yahweh than immense wealth and with it anxiety.

¹⁷ Better a dish of herbs when love is there than a fattened ox and hatred to go with it.

¹⁸ The hot-headed provokes disputes, the equable allays dissension.

¹⁹ The way of the lazy is like a thorny hedge, the path of the honest is a broad highway.

²⁰ A wise child is a father's joy; only a brute despises his mother.

²¹ Folly appeals to someone without sense, a person of understanding goes straight forward.

²² Without deliberation plans come to nothing. Plans succeed where counsellors are many.

²³ Anyone who has a ready answer has joy too: how satisfying is the apt reply!

²⁴ For the prudent, the path of life leads upwards thus avoiding Sheol below.

²⁵ Yahweh pulls down the house of the proud, but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact.

²⁶ Wicked scheming is abhorrent to Yahweh, but words that are kind are pure.

²⁷ Craving for dishonest gain brings trouble on a house, hatred of bribery earns life.

²⁸ The heart of the upright reflects before answering, the mouth of the wicked spews out wickedness.

²⁹ Yahweh keeps his distance from the wicked, but he listens to the prayers of the upright.

³⁰ A kindly glance gives joy to the heart, good news lends strength to the bones.

³¹ The ear attentive to wholesome correction finds itself at home in the company of the wise.

³² Whoever rejects correction lacks self-respect, whoever accepts reproof grows in understanding.

³³ The fear of Yahweh is a school of wisdom, before there can be glory, there must be humility.

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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