Proverbs — Chapter 12
One who loves discipline loves knowledge;Whoever spurns reproof is a brute.
A good person earns the favor of GOD,A man of intrigues, God’s condemnation.
No one can be established in wickedness,But the root of the righteous will not be shaken loose.
A woman of substance is a crown for her husband,But an incompetent one is like rot in his bones.
The purposes of the righteous are justice,The schemes of the wicked are deceit.
The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush,But the speech of the upright saves them.
Overturn the wicked and they are gone,But the house of the righteous will endure.
A man is commended according to his intelligence;A twisted mind is held up to contempt.
Better to be lightly esteemed and have a servantThan to put on airs and have no food.
A righteous person knows the needs of their beast,But the compassion of the wicked is cruelty.
He who tills his land shall have food in plenty,But one who pursues vanities is devoid of sense.
aMeaning of verse uncertain. A wicked man covets the catch of evildoers;The root of the righteous yields [fruit].
Sinful speech is a trap for the evildoer,But a righteous man escapes from trouble.
A man gets his fill of good from the fruit of his speech;One is repaid in kind for one’s deeds.
The way of fools is right in their own eyes;But those who are wise accept advice.
Fools’ vexation is known at once,But the clever conceal their humiliation.
A faithful witness tells the truth,But a false witness, deceit.
There is blunt talk like sword-thrusts,But the speech of the wise is healing.
Truthful speech abides forever,A lying tongue for but a moment.
Deceit is in the minds of those who plot evil;For those who plan good there is joy.
No harm befalls a righteous person,But the wicked have their fill of misfortune.
Lying speech is an abomination to GOD,But those who act faithfully are pleasing.
A clever person conceals knowledge,But the mind of dullards cries out folly.
The hand of the diligent wields authority;The negligent are held in subjection.
If there is anxiety in someone’s mind, let them quash it,And turn it into joy with a good word.
A righteous person gives friends direction,bgives friends direction Meaning of Heb. uncertain. But the way of the wicked leads astray.
A negligent person never has game to roast;A diligent one has precious wealth.cA diligent one has precious wealth Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
The road of righteousness leads to life;By way of its path there is no death.
✦ 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.”
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Luke 6:36
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Snp 1.8
“As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings.”
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1
“One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred.”
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.”