AMENEMOPE'S - BOOK OF WISDOM
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who heeds admonition is prudent. In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the minds of fools. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he who loves him who pursues righteousness. There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; he who hates reproof will die. Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord, how much more the hearts of men! A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise. A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. The mind of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed folly. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. The way of a sluggard is overgrown with thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish man despises his mother. Folly is a joy to him who has no sense, but a man of understanding walks aright. Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed. To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is! The wise man's path leads upward to life, that he may avoid Sheol beneath. The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but maintains the widow's boundaries. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, the words of the pure are pleasing to him. He who is greedy for unjust gain makes trouble for his household, but he who hates bribes will live. The mind of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. The lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones. He whose ear heeds wholesome admonition will abide among the wise. He who ignores instruction despises himself, but he who heeds admonition gains understanding. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, the humility goes before honour.
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. A slave who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tries hearts. An evil doer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue. He who mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of sons is their fathers. Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince. A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of him who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers. He who forgives an offence seeks love, but he who repeats a matter alienates a friend. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly. If a man returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so quit before the quarrel breaks out. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord. Why should a fool have price in his hand to buy wisdom, when he has no mind? A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born in adversity. A man without sense gives a pledge, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbour. He who loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction. A man of crooked mind does not prosper, and one with a perverse tongue falls into calamity. A stupid son is a grief to a father; and the father of a fool has no joy. A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. A wicked man accepts a bribe from the bosom to pervert the ways of justice. A man of understanding sets his face towards wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good; to flog noble men is wrong. He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. The dread wrath of a king is like the growling of a lion; he who provokes him to anger forfeits his life. It is an honour for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarrelling. The sluggard does not plough in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. The purpose in a man's mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but a faithful man who can find? A righteous man who walks in his integrity - blessed are his sons after him! A king who sits on the throne of judgement winnows all evil with his eyes. Who can say, "I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin"? Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord. Even as a child makes himself known by his acts, whether what he does is pure and right. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. "It is bad, it is bad," says the buyer; but when he goes away, then he boasts. There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. Take a man's garment when he has given surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners. Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war. He who goes around gossiping reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who speaks foolishly. If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be pit out in utter darkness. An inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning will in the end not be blessed. Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for the Lord, and he will help you. Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good. A man's steps are ordered by the Lord; how then can a man understand his way? It is a snare for a man to say rashly, "It is holy," and to reflect only after making his vows. A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them. The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by righteousness. The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is their grey hair. Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.
Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. That your trust may be in the Lord, I have made them known to you today, even to you. Have I not written for you thirty sayings of admonition and knowledge, to show you what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you? Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their cause and despoil of life those who despoil them. Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Be not one of those who give pledges, who becomes surely for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set. Do you see a man skilful in his work? he will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you; and put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist. When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself wings, flying like an eagle towards heaven. Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies; for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning. "Eat and drink!" he says to you; but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten, and waste you pleasant words. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Do not remove an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you, Apply your mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely their is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way. Be not among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat; for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Hearken to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. For a harlot is a deep pit; an adventuress is a narrow well. She lies in wait like a robber and increases the faithless among men. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine, those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on top of a mast. "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink." Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them; for their minds devise violence, and their lips talk to mischief. By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is mightier than a strong man, and a man of knowledge than he who has strength; for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counsellors there is victory. Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth. He who plans to do evil will be called a mischief-maker. The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he no require man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do not violence to his home; for a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked; for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out. My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not disobey either of them; for disaster from them will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, in all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
In the book of Hebrew Proverbs, chapters fifteen (15), seventeen (17), twenty (20), and chapter twenty two, verse seventeen (22,v17) to chapter twenty four, verse twenty two (24,v22), are taken almost verbatim from Amenemope's Book of Wisdom.
The first Psalm of the Hebrew Book of Psalms was written by Amenemope and is the heart of the teaching of Akhenaton.
Akhenaton was wise enough to maintain the outward worship of Aton, the sun-god, while he led his associates in the disguised worship of the One God, creator of Aton and supreme Father of all. This young teacher-king was a prolific writer, being author of the exposition entitled "The One God," a book of thirty-one chapters, which the priests, when returned to power, utterly destroyed. Akhenaton also wrote one hundred and thirty seven hymns, twelve of which are now preserved in the Old testament Book of Psalms, credited to Hebrew Authors.
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