1 As a rush of water, so is the king’s heart in God’s hand: he turns it whithersoever he may desire to point out. 2 Every man seems to himself righteous; but the Lord directs the hearts. 3 To do justly and to speak truth, are more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices. 4 A highminded man is stout-hearted in his pride; and the lamp of the wicked is sin. 6 He that gathers treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity on to the snares of death. 7 Destruction shall lodge with the ungodly; for they refuse to do justly. 8 To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right. 9 It is better to dwell in a corner on the house-top, than in plastered rooms with unrighteousness, and in an open house. 10 The soul of the ungodly shall not be pitied by any man.