Further Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise:

To show partiality in judging is not good:
24
Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,”
will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
25
But it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
and rich blessing will come on them.

26
An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.

27
Put your outdoor work in order
and get your fields ready;
after that, build your house.

28
Do not testify against your neighbor without cause—
would you use your lips to mislead?
29
Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me;
I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

30
I went past the field of a sluggard,
past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
31
thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
32
I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
33
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
34
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.

Genesis 12:6-9
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.