Amplified Bible

Proverbs 20:10-27 Amplified Bible (AMP)

10. Diverse weights [one for buying and another for selling] and diverse measures–both of them are exceedingly offensive and abhorrent to the Lord. [Deut. 25:13; Mic. 6:10, 11.]

11. Even a child is known by his acts, whether [or not] what he does is pure and right.

12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye–the Lord has made both of them.

13. Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you will be satisfied with bread.

14. It is worthless, it is worthless! says the buyer; but when he goes his way, then he boasts [about his bargain].

15. There is gold, and a multitude of pearls, but the lips of knowledge are a vase of preciousness [the most precious of all]. [Job 28:12, 16-19; Prov. 3:15; 8:11.]

16. [The judge tells the creditor] Take the garment of one who is security for a stranger; and hold him in pledge when he is security for foreigners.

17. Food gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

18. Purposes and plans are established by counsel; and [only] with good advice make or carry on war.

19. He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore associate not with him who talks too freely. [Rom. 16:17, 18.]

20. Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in complete darkness.

21. An inheritance hastily gotten [by greedy, unjust means] at the beginning, in the end it will not be blessed. [Prov. 28:20; Hab. 2:6.]

22. Do not say, I will repay evil; wait [expectantly] for the Lord, and He will rescue you. [II Sam. 16:12; Rom. 12:17-19; I Thess. 5:15; I Pet. 3:9.]

23. Diverse and deceitful weights are shamefully vile and abhorrent to the Lord, and false scales are not good.

24. Man's steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way?

25. It is a snare to a man to utter a vow [of consecration] rashly and [not until] afterward inquire [whether he can fulfill it].

26. A wise king winnows out the wicked [from among the good] and brings the threshing wheel over them [to separate the chaff from the grain].

27. The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. [I Cor. 2:11.]