8-9. Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;God-investors will soon own the store.
10-11. Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,relishing a huge bonanza.
12-13. Bad guys have it in for the good guys,obsessed with doing them in.But God isn’t losing any sleep; to himthey’re a joke with no punch line.
14-15. Bullies brandish their swords,pull back on their bows with a flourish.They’re out to beat up on the harmless,or mug that nice man out walking his dog.A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—slapstick figures in a moral circus.
16-17. Less is more and more is less.One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,For the wicked are moral weaklingsbut the righteous are God-strong.
18-19. God keeps track of the decent folk;what they do won’t soon be forgotten.In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high;when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full.
20. God-despisers have had it;God’s enemies are finished—Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,vanished like smoke in thin air.
21-22. Wicked borrows and never returns;Righteous gives and gives.Generous gets it all in the end;Stingy is cut off at the pass.
23-24. Stalwart walks in step with God;his path blazed by God, he’s happy.If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;God has a grip on his hand.
25-26. I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—not once have I seen an abandoned believer,or his kids out roaming the streets.Every day he’s out giving and lending,his children making him proud.
27-28. Turn your back on evil,work for the good and don’t quit.God loves this kind of thing,never turns away from his friends.
28-29. Live this way and you’ve got it made,but bad eggs will be tossed out.The good get planted on good landand put down healthy roots.
30-31. Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,rolls virtue around on his tongue.His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins;his feet are as sure as a cat’s.