Coverdale(i)
1 Better is a drye morsell wt quyetnesse, the a full house and many fatt catell wt stryfe.
2 A discrete seruaut shal haue more rule then the sonnes yt haue no wysdome, and shal haue like heretage wt the brethren.
3 Like as syluer is tried in the fyre and golde in the fornace, euen so doth the LORDE proue the hertes.
4 A wicked body holdeth moch of false lippes, & a dyssemblynge persone geueth eare to a disceatfull toge.
5 Who so laugheth ye poore to scorne, blasphemeth his maker: and he yt is glad of another mans hurte, shal not be vnpunyshed.
6 Childers children are a worshipe vnto the elders, and the fathers are the honor of the children.
7 An eloquent speach becometh not a foole, a dyssemblinge mouth also besemeth not a prynce.
8 Liberalite is a precious stone vnto him that hath it, for where so euer he becometh, he prospereth.
9 Who so couereth another mans offence, seketh loue: but he yt discloseth the faute, setteth frendes at variaunce.
10 One reprofe only doth more good to him yt hath vnderstodinge, then an C. stripes vnto a foole.
11 A sedicious personne seketh myschefe, but a cruell messaunger shal be sent agaynst him.
12 It were better to come agaynst a she Bere robbed of hir whelpes, then agaynst a foole in his foolishnes.
13 Who so rewardeth euell for good, the plage shal not departe fro his house.
14 He yt soweth discorde & strife, is like one yt dyggeth vp a water broke: but an open enemie is like the water yt breaketh out & reneth abrode.
15 The LORDE hateth as well him yt iustifieth ye vngodly, as him yt condempneth the innocet.
16 What helpeth it to geue a foole money in his hode, where as he hath no mynde to bye wy?dome?
17 He is a frende that allwaye loueth, and in aduersite a man shal knowe who is his brother.
18 Who so promiseth by the hande, & is suertie for another, he is a foole.
19 He yt loueth strife, delyteth in synne: & who so setteth his dore to hye, seketh after a fall.
20 Who so hath a frowarde herte, opteyneth no good: and he yt hath an ouerthwarte tonge, shal fall into myschefe.
21 An vnwyse body bryngeth himselfe in to sorowe, and ye father of a foole can haue no ioye.
22 A mery herte maketh a lusty age, but a sorowfull mide dryeth vp ye bones.
23 The vngodly taketh giftes out of the bosome, to wraist the wayes of iudgment.
24 Wy?dome shyneth in ye face of him yt hath vnderstondinge, but ye eyes of fooles wandre thorow out all lodes.
25 An vndiscrete sonne is a grefe vnto his father, and heuynesse vnto his mother yt bare him.
26 To punysh ye innocent, and to smyte ye prynces yt geue true iudgmet, are both euell.
27 He is wyse and discrete, yt tempereth his wordes: and he is a ma of vnderstodinge, yt maketh moch of his sprete.
28 Yee a very foole (when he holdeth his tonge) is counted wyse, and to haue vnderstodinge, when he shutteth his lippes.