Proverbs 17:1-28 GNT

[1] Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble. [2] A shrewd servant will gain authority over a master's worthless son and receive a part of the inheritance. [3] Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person's heart is tested by the LORD. [4] Evil people listen to evil ideas, and liars listen to lies. [5] If you make fun of poor people, you insult the God who made them. You will be punished if you take pleasure in someone's misfortune. [6] Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren, just as children are proud of their parents. [7] Respected people do not tell lies, and fools have nothing worthwhile to say. [8] Some people think a bribe works like magic; they believe it can do anything. [9] If you want people to like you, forgive them when they wrong you. Remembering wrongs can break up a friendship. [10] An intelligent person learns more from one rebuke than a fool learns from being beaten a hundred times. [11] Death will come like a cruel messenger to wicked people who are always stirring up trouble. [12] It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project. [13] If you repay good with evil, you will never get evil out of your house. [14] The start of an argument is like the first break in a dam; stop it before it goes any further. [15] Condemning the innocent or letting the wicked go-both are hateful to the LORD. [16] It does a fool no good to spend money on an education, because he has no common sense. [17] Friends always show their love. What are relatives for if not to share trouble? [18] Only someone with no sense would promise to be responsible for someone else's debts. [19] To like sin is to like making trouble. If you brag all the time, you are asking for trouble. [20] Anyone who thinks and speaks evil can expect to find nothing good-only disaster. [21] There is nothing but sadness and sorrow for parents whose children do foolish things. [22] Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time. [23] Corrupt judges accept secret bribes, and then justice is not done. [24] An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions. [25] Foolish children bring grief to their fathers and bitter regrets to their mothers. [26] It is not right to make an innocent person pay a fine; justice is perverted when good people are punished. [27] Those who are sure of themselves do not talk all the time. People who stay calm have real insight. [28] After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut.