12
1 If you do good, know to whom you do it;
And your good deeds will have thanks.
2 Do good to a godly man, and you will find a recompense;
And if not from him, yet from the Most High.
3 There will no good come to him that continues to do evil,
Nor to him that gives no alms.
4 Give to the godly man,
And help not the sinner.
5 Do good to one that is lowly,
And give not to an ungodly man:
Keep back his bread, and give it not to him,
Lest he overmaster you by it:
For you will receive twice as much evil
For all the good you will have done to him.
6 For the Most High also hates sinners,
And will repay vengeance to the ungodly. * The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
7 Give to the good man,
And help not the sinner.
8 A man’s friend will not be † Or, punished fully tried in prosperity;
And his enemy will not be hidden in adversity.
9 In a man’s prosperity his enemies are grieved;
And in his adversity even his friend will be separated from him.
10 Never trust your enemy:
For like as the brass rusts, so is his wickedness.
11 Though he humble himself, and go crouching,
Yet take good heed, and beware of him,
And you will be to him as one that has wiped a mirror,
And you will know that ‡ Or, it has not utterly rusted him he has not utterly rusted it.
12 Set him not by you,
Lest he overthrow you and stand in your place;
Let him not sit on your right hand,
Lest he seek to take your seat,
And at the last you acknowledge my words,
And be pricked with my sayings.
13 Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent,
Or any that come near wild beasts?
14 Even so who will pity him that goes to a sinner,
And is associated with him in his sins?
15 For a while he will stay with you,
And if you give way, he will not hold out.
16 And the enemy will speak sweetly with his lips,
And in his heart take counsel how to overthrow you into a pit:
The enemy will weep with his eyes,
And if he find opportunity, he will not be satiated with blood.
17 If adversity meet you, you will find him there before you;
And as though he would help you, he will trip up your heel.
18 He will shake his head, and clap his hands,
And whisper much, and change his countenance.