20. After you have chosen a fertile plotout of every field,sow your own seed,being confident of yourexcellent descent.
21. Thus your offspring who surround youand who have confidencein their excellent descent,will become great.
22. A hired woman will be consideredthe same as spit,but a married woman will be considered a tower of death to those who associate too closely with her.
23. An ungodly woman will be bestowedon a lawless man as his portion,but a godly woman is grantedto the man who fears the Lord.
24. A shameless woman will always bein disgrace,but a dignified daughter will show modesty even with her husband.
25. An unruly wife will be thought ofas a dog,but the wife who feels shamewill fear the Lord.
26. A wife who honors her own husband will appear wise to everyone,but the wife who dishonors her husband with arrogancewill be known to all as ungodly.The husband of a good wife is happy,for the number of his years will double.
27. A loudmouthed and talkative wifeis like a battle trumpetsounding an attack.The spirit of the manwho lives under such conditionslives perpetually in the chaosof the battlefield.
28. My heart has been saddenedby two things,and I was made angry because of a third:a warrior who is needyand impoverished,intelligent people who are treatedwith contempt,and people who are turnedfrom righteousness to sin—the Lord will prepare themfor the sword.
29. A merchant will scarcely be keptfrom wrongdoing,and a retailer won’t be innocent of sin.