God knows what you think
1The Lord can control a king's mind
like He controls a river.
He leads the king
to think what He wants him to think.
2Some people think that
everything that they do is right,
but the Lord knows why they do it
and if it is really right.
3It is more important to the Lord
that we do what is right and fair
than to sacrifice_offerings.
4People who are proud
and think they are important,
and think that they know a lot,
are full of sin.
5When hard-working people
make plans, they succeed and become rich,
but people who want to
become rich quickly will stay poor.
6If you get a lot of money
because you have cheated other people,
it will disappear like the wind,
and that sin will lead to death.
7The sinful things that bad people do
will destroy them because
they don't want to do what is right.
8Guilty people do things that are dishonest,
but honest people do what is right,
and their lives are pure.
9It is better to live on top of a roof
than to live in a home with
a woman who keeps on complaining.
10People who live in the wrong way
always want to do sinful things,
and they don't feel sorry for other people.
11If you punish fools
who always laugh at wisdom,
some of them will learn wisdom.
If you teach a wise person,
he will get more knowledge.
12God, who always does what is right,
sees inside the homes of sinful people
and He will punish them
for the wrong things that they do.
13If you don't want to listen
when poor people ask you for help,
then the Lord will not listen
to you or answer your prayers.
14If you want to give a gift
to someone who is angry with you,
you must give it to him
where no other people can see it,
and then that person will not be angry anymore.
15A man who lives in the right way
is happy when he can do right,
but people who do bad things will not live.
16If a wise person stops doing good
and turns away from the right way,
he will go down the way where death waits.
17If someone likes
to enjoy life all the time,
he will become poor.
Someone who loves wine
and olive oil a lot
will never become rich.
18You will easily give up someone
who lives in the wrong way
to free someone who lives in the right way,
or you will give up an unfaithful man
to free an honest man.
19It is better to live in a desert
than to live with a woman
who keeps on complaining and arguing.
20There are a lot of precious things
and olive oil in a house of a wise man,
but a foolish man
wastes everything that he has.
21If someone tries to do
what is right and to do good things
to other people,
he will have true_life, he will be
righteous and people will respect him.
22A person who has wisdom
can defeat a city full of soldiers.
The walls of the city
must protect the soldiers,
but he can make the walls fall down.
23Someone who thinks
before he says something
will not have any trouble.
24A proud person thinks
he is the only one who is right,
and he thinks he is better than other people.
Proud people show they are sinful
by what they do.
25A lazy person is ruined
because he only wants to sleep,
and he does not want to work.
26He sits all day long
and hopes to get things.
Someone who lives in the right way
gives to other people what he has,
and he doesn't keep everything for himself.
27The Lord hates the offerings
that sinners sacrifice,
and He hates it more when they sacrifice
for the wrong reasons.
28People will not remember
a false_witness for long,
but if a witness speaks the truth
people will listen to him.
29Sinful people don't show
other people what they think,
but honest people think carefully
about what they do.
30When someone stands before the Lord,
he will never have
enough wisdom to make plans
that can succeed against the Lord.
31You can teach horses
and prepare them for war,
but it is the Lord
who makes someone win the war.
