1 When you do good, know to whom you do it;
So you shall be thanked for your good works.
2 Do good to the upright, and you shall find a recompense;
And if not from him, even from the Most High.
3 No good shall come to he who is always occupied with evil,
Nor to he who does no kind deed.
4 Give to the upright man, and do not help a sinner.
5 Do good to he who is lowly, but do not give to the wicked;
Withhold your bread, and do not give it to him,
Lest he overthrow you by it;
For you shall receive twice as much evil for all the good you have done to him.
6 For the Most High hates sinners,
and shall repay the wicked with retribution,
And keeps them for the great day of their punishment.
7 Give to the good, and do not help the sinner.
8 A friend cannot be known in good times;
And an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity.
9 In the prosperity of a man enemies shall be grieved:
But in his adversity even a friend shall turn away.
10 Never trust your enemy;
For as iron rusts, so is his wickedness.
11 Though he humbles himself, and comes bowed down,
Yet be on your guard and beware of him,
And be to him as if you had wiped a mirror,
And you shall know that its tarnish has not been wiped away altogether.
12 Do not put him near you,
Lest when he has overthrown you, he stands in your place;
Neither let him sit at your right hand,
Lest he seek to take your seat, and you remember my words in the end,
And be pierced by them.
13 Who shall pity a charmer that is bitten by a serpent,
Or any who come near wild beasts?
14 So one that goes to a sinner, and is defiled by him in his sins,
Who shall pity?
15 For a while he shall remain with you,
But if you begin to fall, he shall not wait.
16 An enemy speaks sweetly with his lips,
But in his heart he imagines how to throw you into a pit;
He weeps with his eyes, but if he finds opportunity,
He shall not be satisfied with blood.
17 If adversity comes upon you, you shall find him there first;
And though he pretends to help you, even so he shall wrong you.
18 He shall shake his head, and clap his hands,
And whisper much, and change his face.