Proverbs 12
The Message Audio | © Oasis Audio | Publisher Website
If You Love Learning
[1-12] If you love learning, you love the discipline that goes with it—
how shortsighted to refuse correction!
A good person basks in the delight of God,
and he wants nothing to do with devious schemers.
You can’t find firm footing in a swamp,
but life rooted in God stands firm.
A hearty wife invigorates her husband,
but a frigid woman is cancer in the bones.
The thinking of principled people makes for justice;
the plots of degenerates corrupt.
The words of the wicked kill;
the speech of the upright saves.
Wicked people fall to pieces—there’s nothing to them;
the homes of good people hold together.
A person who talks sense is honored;
airheads are held in contempt.
Better to be ordinary and work for a living
than act important and starve in the process.
Good people are good to their animals;
the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them.
The one who stays on the job has food on the table;
the witless chase whims and fancies.
What the wicked construct finally falls into ruin,
while the roots of the righteous give life, and more life.
Wise People Take Advice
[13-28] The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble;
the conversation of good people keeps them out of it.
Well-spoken words bring satisfaction;
well-done work has its own reward.
Fools are headstrong and do what they like;
wise people take advice.
Fools have short fuses and explode all too quickly;
the prudent quietly shrug off insults.
Truthful witness by a good person clears the air,
but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit.
Rash language cuts and maims,
but there is healing in the words of the wise.
Truth lasts;
lies are here today, gone tomorrow.
Evil scheming distorts the schemer;
peace-planning brings joy to the planner.
No evil can overwhelm a good person,
but the wicked have their hands full of it.
God can’t stomach liars;
he loves the company of those who keep their word.
Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge;
talkative fools broadcast their silliness.
The diligent find freedom in their work;
the lazy are oppressed by work.
Worry weighs us down;
a cheerful word picks us up.
A good person survives misfortune,
but a wicked life invites disaster.
A lazy life is an empty life,
but “early to rise” gets the job done.
Good men and women travel right into life;
sin’s detours take you straight to hell.
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
