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Proverbs 20:3-17

Proverbs 20:3-17 ESV

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find? The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes. Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD. Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both. Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.