Proverbs — Chapter 11
False scales are an abomination to GOD,Who finds an honestahonest Lit. “whole.” weight pleasing.
When arrogance appears, disgrace follows,But wisdom is with those who are unassuming.
The integrity of the upright guides them;The deviousness of the treacherous leads them to ruin.
Wealth is of no avail on the day of wrath,But righteousness saves from death.
The righteousness of the blameless smooths their way,But the wicked fall by their wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright saves them,But the treacherous are trapped by their malice.
At death the hopes of a wicked person are doomed,And the ambition of evildoersbambition of evildoers Or “wish for posterity,” i.e., hope for family continuity; cf. Rashi. comes to nothing.
A righteous person is rescued from troubleAnd it comes to the wicked instead.
An impious person destroys a neighbor through speech,But through knowledge the righteous are rescued.
When the righteous prosper the city exults;When the wicked perish there are shouts of joy.
A city is built up by the blessing of the upright,But it is torn down by the speech of the wicked.
One who speaks contemptuously of neighbors is devoid of sense;A prudent man keeps his peace.
A base fellow gives away secrets,But a trustworthy soul keeps a confidence.
For want of strategy an army falls,But victory comes with much planning.
Harm awaits one who stands surety for another;canother Or “a stranger.” One who spurns pledging shall be secure.
A graceful woman obtains honor;Ruthless men obtain wealth.
A kindly man benefits himself;A cruel one makes trouble for himself.
A wicked person earns illusory wages,But one who sows righteousness has a true reward.
Righteousness is a prop of life,But to pursue evil leads to death.
Crooked minds are an abomination to GOD,But those whose way is blameless are pleasing.
Assuredly,dAssuredly Lit. “Hand to hand”; meaning of Heb. uncertain. the evildoer will not escape,But the offspring of the righteous will be safe.
Like a gold ring in the snout of a pigIs a beautiful woman bereft of sense.
What the righteous desire can only be good;What the wicked hope for [stirs] wrath.
Some give generously and end with more;Others stint on doing the right thing and incur a loss.
A generous person enjoys prosperity;One who satisfies others shall likewise be sated.
Whoever withholds grain earns the curses of the people,But blessings are on the head of the one who dispenses it.
One who earnestly seeks good pursues what is pleasing;Evil comes to someone who is bent on it.
One who trusts in wealth shall fall,But the righteous shall flourish like foliage.
He who makes trouble for his household shall inherit the wind;A fool is a slave to the wise-hearted.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;The wise captivate people.
If the righteous on earth get their deserts,How much more evildoers and sinners.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 10:1
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
The Path to Wisdom
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Quran 39:9
“Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”