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20:1  Wine is a mocker, strong drink a riotous brawler; and whoever errs or reels because of it is not wise.
20:2  The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger or angers himself against him sins against his own life.
20:3  It is an honor for a man to cease from strife and keep aloof from it, but every fool will quarrel.
20:4  The sluggard does not plow when winter sets in; therefore he begs in harvest and has nothing.
20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well, but a man of understanding draws it out.
20:6  Many a man proclaims his own loving-kindness and goodness, but a faithful man who can find?
20:7  The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed (happy, fortunate, enviable) are his children after him.
20:8  A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows out all evil [like chaff] with his eyes.
20:9  Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
20:10  Diverse weights [one for buying and another for selling] and diverse measures—both of them are exceedingly offensive and abhorrent to the Lord.
20:11  Even a child is known by his acts, whether [or not] what he does is pure and right.
20:12  The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the Lord has made both of them.
20:13  Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you will be satisfied with bread.
20:14  It is worthless, it is worthless! says the buyer; but when he goes his way, then he boasts [about his bargain].
20:15  There is gold, and a multitude of pearls, but the lips of knowledge are a vase of preciousness [the most precious of all].
20:16  [The judge tells the creditor] Take the garment of one who is security for a stranger; and hold him in pledge when he is security for foreigners.
20:17  Food gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
20:18  Purposes and plans are established by counsel; and [only] with good advice make or carry on war.
20:19  He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore associate not with him who talks too freely.
20:20  Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in complete darkness.
20:21  An inheritance hastily gotten [by greedy, unjust means] at the beginning, in the end it will not be blessed.
20:22  Do not say, I will repay evil; wait [expectantly] for the Lord, and He will rescue you.
20:23  Diverse and deceitful weights are shamefully vile and abhorrent to the Lord, and false scales are not good.
20:24  Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way?
20:25  It is a snare to a man to utter a vow [of consecration] rashly and [not until] afterward inquire [whether he can fulfill it].
20:26  A wise king winnows out the wicked [from among the good] and brings the threshing wheel over them [to separate the chaff from the grain].
20:27  The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.
20:28  Loving-kindness and mercy, truth and faithfulness, preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by [the people’s] loyalty.
20:29  The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is their gray head [suggesting wisdom and experience].
20:30  Blows that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes [for correction] reach to the innermost parts.