15  ^bA rich man’s wealth is his strong city;

the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

16  The wage of the righteous leads ^cto life,

the gain of the wicked to sin.

1  ^aA false balance is an abomination to the Lord,

^bbut a just weight is his delight.

4  ^gRiches do not profit in the day of wrath,

^hbut righteousness delivers from death.

24  ^jOne gives ^kfreely, yet grows all the richer;

another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

25  ^lWhoever brings blessing ^mwill be enriched,

and ⁿone who waters will himself be watered.

26  ^oThe people curse him who holds back grain,

but ^pa blessing is on the head of him who ^qsells it.

21  ^gNo ill befalls the righteous,

but the wicked are filled with trouble.

23  ^kA prudent man conceals knowledge,

^kbut the heart of fools proclaims folly.

7  Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me ^wbefore I die:

8  Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is ^xneedful for me,

9  lest I be ^yfull and ^zdeny you

and say, ^a“Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

^band profane the name of my God.