Chapter 10

10. A wise judge will instruct his people; and the government of a prudent man is well ordered. As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and with what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all they that dwell therein. An unwise king destroyeth his people; but through the prudence of them which are in authority the city shall be inhabited. The power of the earth is in the hand of the Lord, and in due time he will set over it one that is profitable. In the hand of God is the prosperity of man: and upon the person of the scribe shall he lay his honour. Remember not every wrong of the multitude, but let the things that are past pass away. It is not meet to render hurt for hurt, or to strike, being not provoked. My son, deal not with the business of the wicked; for thou knowest not what they will bring forth. The pride of man is to hate the truth: and the Lord will be angry with them that speak wickedly. The beginning of the pride of man is when he departeth from the Lord, and his heart is turned away from his Maker. For pride is the beginning of sin, and he that hath it shall pour out abomination: and therefore the Lord brought upon them strange plagues, and overthrew them utterly. The Lord hath cast down the thrones of proud princes, and set up the meek in their stead. The Lord hath plucked up the roots of the proud nations, and planted the humble in their stead. The Lord overthrew countries of the heathen, and destroyed them to the foundations of the earth. He took some of them away, and destroyed them, and hath made their memorial to cease from the earth. Pride was not made for men, nor wrath for the sons of women. They that are righteous are in the hand of God; but the wicked are to their own destruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of acceptance: but contempt of the commandment is the beginning of sin. Who is the seed of the most High? All men are of the earth; and Adam was created of dust. The most High hath not honoured the person of the prince, nor regarded the person of the judge. The greater they are, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord. Many mighty men have been greatly disgraced; and the honourable delivered into other men's hands. Reproach not thy neighbour at his table, and despise him not in his feasting. The labour of a servant who worketh, and is content, is a blessing: but he that is idle is full of poverty. A merchant shall hardly keep himself from wrong; and an huckster shall not be freed from sin.