| Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. | Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything. |
| The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin. | The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces. |
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| Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. | Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! |
| Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. | But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. |
| One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. | There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. |
| The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin of those who do evil. | The way of the Lord is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked. |
| The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. | The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. |
| Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” | Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” |
| With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape. | With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous. |
| Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. | Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. |
