Proverbs 24 — T4T

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24Verse 1Do not envy evil people;do not desire to associate with them,^{Verse 2}because they are constantly thinking about acting violently,and whenever they speak [MTY], they talk about ◄causing trouble/hurting someone►.

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^{Verse 3}People make good houses (OR, families) by doing what is wise,and they make their houses (OR, families) strong by heeding good advice.^{Verse 4}By using good sense, they are able to buy valuable and beautiful things and put them in the rooms of their houses.

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^{Verse 5}Being wise is better than being strong/powerful;those who know many things can accomplish more than those who are very strong.^{Verse 6}Leaders can fight battles if they have wise advisors,and they win those battles if they have many good advisors.

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^{Verse 7}Foolish people cannot understand wise sayings/talk;at public meetings they are not able to say anything that is useful.

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^{Verse 8}Those who are always planning to do evil things will be called troublemakers.
^{Verse 9}It is sinful to plan to do foolish things,and people hate those who make fun of everything that is good.

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^{Verse 10}If you act as though you are helpless when you have troubles,you are truly very weak.

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^{Verse 11}If it is unjustly decided that someone must be executed, try hard to rescue them [DOU].
^{Verse 12}If you say, “I did not know anything about it, so ◄it is not my concern/I did not try to help him►,”remember that God knows what we have done,and he knows what we were thinking [IDM, RHQ],and he will certainly [RHQ] repay us as we deserve for what we have done or for not doing what we should have done.

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^{Verse 13}My child/son, eat honey, because it is good for you;the honey that drips from honeycombs tastes very sweet.^{Verse 14}Similarly, being wise is good for your soul;
if you become wise,you will be happy in the future,
and God will certainly do for you what you are confidently expecting him to do [LIT].

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^{Verse 15}Do not be like wicked people who hide and wait to break into the houses of righteous/good peopleand rob/steal things.^{Verse 16}Even if good people fall down seven/many times,they always stand/get up again,but when a disaster happens to wicked people,it ruins/destroys them.

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^{Verse 17}Do not be happy when something bad happens to one of your enemies;do not rejoice when he stumbles and falls,^{Verse 18}because Yahweh will know what you are thinking, and he will not like it,and as a result he will not punish that enemy of yours.

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^{Verse 19}Do not become angry/upset about those who do what is evil,and do not [SYN] envy them,^{Verse 20}because nothing good will happen to wicked people;they are like a lamp that will soon be extinguished [MET].

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^{Verse 21}My child/son, revere Yahweh and also honor the king,and do not associate with people who want to rebel against either of them,^{Verse 22}because those people will suddenly experience disasters;and no one knows [RHQ] what great disasters that God or the king can cause to happen to them.

More sayings from wise people

^{Verse 23}Here are more things that wise people have said:It is wrong for judges to decide matters unfairly [IDM].
^{Verse 24}If they say to people who are guilty, “You ◄are innocent/have not done something that is wrong►,”even people in other nations will curse and despise them,^{Verse 25}but if judges say that guilty people must be punished,things will go well for those judges, and ◄they will receive blessings/God will bless them►.^{Verse 26}Those who answer others honestly show that they are truly their friends [IDM].^{Verse 27}First, do the work that needs to be done outside your house,and prepare your fields, and then plant things,
and after you finish doing that, build your house.^{Verse 28}In the courtroom do not testify against someone when you have no reason to do that,and do not try to deceive people by what you say [MTY].^{Verse 29}Do not say, “I will do to him what he did to me;I will pay him back for the bad things that he did to me.”^{Verse 30}One day I walked by the vineyards of a lazy man,a man who did not have good sense.^{Verse 31}I was surprised to see that the fields were full of all kinds of thorny bushes,and the stone wall around the garden had ◄collapsed/fallen down►.^{Verse 32}When I saw that, I thought about it, and I learned this:
^{Verse 33}If you spend a lot of time sleeping and napping and folding your hands while you rest,
^{Verse 34}soon you will become poor;it will be as though [PRS, SIM] a bandit who had a weapon in his hand attacked you and stole all that you had.