Parallel Bible results for "Proverbs 24"

Proverbs 24

The Message Bible MSG

1 Don't envy bad people; don't even want to be around them.

2 All they think about is causing a disturbance; all they talk about is making trouble.

3 It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;

4 It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.

5 It's better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day.

6 Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel.

7 Wise conversation is way over the head of fools; in a serious discussion they haven't a clue.

8 The person who's always cooking up some evil soon gets a reputation as prince of rogues.

9 Fools incubate sin; cynics desecrate beauty. Rescue the Perishing

10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place.

11 Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help.

12 If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know - Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

13 Eat honey, dear child - it's good for you - and delicacies that melt in your mouth.

14 Likewise knowledge, and wisdom for your soul - Get that and your future's secured, your hope is on solid rock.

15 Don't interfere with good people's lives; don't try to get the best of them.

16 No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don't stay down long; Soon they're up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces.

17 Don't laugh when your enemy falls; don't crow over his collapse.

18 God might see, and become very provoked, and then take pity on his plight.

19 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

20 Those people have no future at all; they're headed down a dead-end street.

21 Fear God, dear child - respect your leaders; don't be defiant or mutinous.

22 Without warning your life can turn upside-down, and who knows how or when it might happen?

23 It's wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice.

24 Whoever whitewashes the wicked gets a black mark in the history books,

25 But whoever exposes the wicked will be thanked and rewarded.

26 An honest answer is like a warm hug.

27 First plant your fields; then build your barn.

28 Don't talk about your neighbors behind their backs - no slander or gossip, please.

29 Don't say to anyone, "I'll get back at you for what you did to me. I'll make you pay for what you did!"

30 One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout;

31 They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.

32 I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:

33 "A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy - do you know what comes next?

34 Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!"

New International Version NIV

1 Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;

2 for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble.

3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;

4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

5 The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.

6 Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.

7 Wisdom is too high for fools; in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.

8 Whoever plots evil will be known as a schemer.

9 The schemes of folly are sin, and people detest a mocker.

10 If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!

11 Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

13 Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.

14 Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

15 Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous, do not plunder their dwelling place;

16 for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,

18 or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.

19 Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked,

20 for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

21 Fear the LORD and the king, my son, and do not join with rebellious officials,

22 for those two will send sudden destruction on them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?

23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:

24 Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.

26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

27 Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead?

29 Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.

32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:

33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.