English – French
“And more than that, the preacher was wise; he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he listened, and looked, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out pleasing words; and words of truth written by the upright. The words of the wise are like goads; yes, their collected words are like nails driven home; they are given from one Shepherd” (Ecclesiastes 12:9-11 MKJV).
In the middle of the night of April 15-16 of 2007, it was given me to write proverbs. Like a tap of water turned on, they came, one after the other, 78 in all. Then, as fast as they began, they ended, like a tap turned off. There was no premeditation, no expectation and when the end came, there was nothing I could do to continue. They were just there.
Since then the Lord has given me more, when I am quiet, in His way, and when He wills.
The principles of life have many manifestations, each of which can be expressed as a proverb. A proverb can appear simple on the surface, stating the obvious, as even to give the impression that a simpleton speaks. As one contemplates the words and seeks a deeper meaning, however, he or she can be rewarded with counsel and understanding that serve well in many applications of life, should God give to that one.
Victor Hafichuk
PROVERBS
1-250 ~ 251-500 ~ 501-750 ~ 751-1000 ~ 1001-1250
1251-1500 ~ 1501-1750 ~ 1751-2000 ~ 2001- 2250
2251- 2500 ~ 2501- 2750 ~ 2751-3000 ~ 3001- 3250
2251. When you follow in what’s wrong, you die and kill. When you lead in what’s right, you live and make alive.
2252. The test, duty, and power of the wise are to recognize that even the fool is purposed.
2253. The prophet of the Kingdom of God bows before the king on earth because earth is his realm of authority, but when the king desires the benefits of the Kingdom of God, he bows before the prophet whose authority is in Heaven.
2254. It doesn’t occur to the offended one that he offends more than those who offend him.
2255. To the winner, everything is gold but to the loser, all is shit.
2256. There’s nobody with 20/20 eyesight like the blind.
2257. God is a Single Perfect Gem of a Zillion Facets.
2258. Better to be free in jail than jailed in freedom.
2259. The believer’s enemy is the doorman into the Kingdom of God, hence the flaming sword guarding the way to the Tree of Life.
2260. We need to be crucified to enter the Kingdom. Our friends won’t do it, so the job is left to our enemies.
2261. If we were perfect or good, people should rightfully worship us, for perfection and goodness can only be found in God.
2262. The anointing of God is separate from our person like water is separate from its container, though in it.
2263. It is folly to think we can be the Essence of God in our own right like it would be for a glass to assume it can be its contents.
2264. If a man boasts of his virtue or vice, let nobody believe him.
2265. It’s not what it is but what you do with it.
2266. By the grace and power of God, all things are possible.
2267. What was will no longer be and what will now be has never been.
2268. If you try to do a worthy thing, that’s half the battle won. If you don’t quit, that’s the other half won.
2269. There is nothing that can’t be used for good or for evil, be it a gun, a knife, a wall, a skill or tool, a rock or pillow, a stick, a car, a bed, a pie, a talent, a song or musical instrument, a dog or fellow human being, a strength or weakness, medicine or poison, knowledge or ignorance, riches or poverty, religion or secularity, a smile or frown, a word or silence… goodness or evil.
2270. If a righteous man falls into a trap, it will do him little evil but it will do the trapper no good.
2271. Even if a righteous man falls into a trap, the trapper will not prosper.
2272. Those in some evil become suspect to all evil.
2273. It pays to listen even if you don’t understand; it pays to listen again and again until you do understand.
2274. It is not always what is consumed but also what falls to the ground that produces.
2275. There’s a saying: “Give until it hurts.” But I say, there is no true giving unless it hurts.
2276. Beating swords into plowshares is a heartbeat.
2277. False hopes don’t die but fools clinging to them do.
2278. Men live as devils and are buried as saints.
2279. Like the song, singing comes not from the body but from the heart.
2280. You never lose because you fail to make connection; you only lose because connection’s so important to you.
2281. Where were you when the world was without you? Where will you be when it goes on beyond you?
2282. Those who have spent their lives for an earthly income will in the end discover they wasted a lot of time and energy.
2283. Accomplishment first begins with a dream, then a desire, then a complete commitment to the death.
2284. Whether in the secular or sacred, the holy or profane, the earthly or heavenly, men must learn the lessons appointed them.
2285. Jesus Christ, the Person, Almighty God, Creator of all, by Whom and for Whom all things were made, is THE Answer to every possible problem. Faith in Him is the Key. There is no other answer.
2286. He who loses but doesn’t quit, wins; he who quits only loses.
2287. If you don’t conduct yourself respectfully, you can’t expect to be respected.
2288. A closed door doesn’t let anything out, but it doesn’t let anything in, either.
2289. Whether a small lie or a big one, whether a thing is weak or strong, big or small, it’s all the same.
2290. The wicked are always innocent and the innocent are always wicked.
2291. One who fears the consequences of not fearing God instead of fearing God is called a hypochondriac.
2292. A hypochondriac is one with a guilty conscience. He’s afraid of judgment because he refuses to believe and to obey God.
2293. One who lives in fear lives in sin. He can rebuke the spirit of fear or try to resist the Devil’s influence, but he must get down to the root of the problem, which is sin. And once he deals with his sin, he’ll no longer be fearful.
2294. Freedom comes with obedience and bondage with disobedience.
2295. God’s mercy is an undeserved blessing, but oh, what a fearful price to be paid for taking it for granted!
2296. Smoke is the evidence of destruction.
2297. Retirement is the fast lane to the grave.
2298. There should be no shame in being wrong, only in choosing wrong.
2299. Covetousness is more evident in what one does with another’s goods than with his own.
2300. True wealth is always within, never without.
2301. When one is rich, he has no need of anything.
2302. Your opponent is never the issue; the issue is your opponent.
2303. When time and chance come for you, resistance is futile.
2304. Your battle will be won when you don’t mind your opponent being wrong; it will be doubly won when you don’t mind being wrong.
2305. Instead of condemning yourself by shading the Truth, stand in Its shadow where you’ll be perfectly safe.
2306. He who loves gain hates loss even more.
2307. Music in its proper form is the crowning glory of grace.
2308. Pride is a high wall to learning but humility an open gate to it.
2309. To honor a stranger is a potentially promising investment and profitable return for both parties.
2310. Drinking clean water and receiving wise counsel are refreshing to a thirsty soul.
2311. First look, listen, feel, smell, taste, and think before you eat. So carefully judge what others have to say.
2312. Choose between the discipline of a caring parent and the inevitable punishment of a world filled with uncaring parents.
2313. Honesty is a powerful antidote for fear and good conscience an excellent preventative for worry.
2314. One who depends on darkness to satisfy will find himself in the bottomless pit.
2315. Those who signal virtue are void of the same.
2316. When you’ve sold the client to himself, you have paved a golden highway to close the deal you proffer.
2317. Truth hurts, but only when you fight it. One thing is sure – you can’t hurt Truth.
2318. Political correctness is like the contents of an unflushed toilet bowl – unpleasant and not meant to be valued or preserved.
2319. Some do evil and are called evildoers; some flirt with evil and are called hypocrites; some disagree with evil and are called cynics; some oppose evil and are called peacemakers.
2320. As God wouldn’t put clean clothing on a dirty body, so He won’t put His Clean Word in the mouth of one whose heart isn’t sanctified.
2321. Words, words, even good words – all vain unless seeded and watered to bear fruit.
2322. One who envies the righteous is little better than one who envies the wicked.
2323. Those who live by their works trust in themselves and can never be satisfied but those who live by grace trust in their Maker and rest in peace.
2324. Better to have people who understand rather than people who think they know.
2325. To be humbled is to fail and be shown one doesn’t have what he thinks to have.
2326. You may be headed fast with impatience, but you’re headed in the wrong direction.
2327. Take away fear and you are an overcomer. As an overcomer, one has dominion over all enemies, within and without.
2328. Would you make a friend? Be one.
2329. You’ve got to learn how to walk by faith if you’re ever going to walk with the Lord.
2330. Be ready to accept heavy trials and tears if you’re ever going to walk with the Lord.
2331. Don’t ever take the road that looks so smooth; it’s smooth from crowds who’ve passed by foolishly.
2332. The rarely traveled road with rocks and holes for traveling guests is the road that leads you to the truth of life.
2333. It’s great to be somebody because you’re nobody because you’re His.
2334. There are those who worship God and try to do His will their way like a horse, which the Master has not broken.
2335. There is purpose everywhere in all the smallest things He does, and though our understanding can’t see this, still to trust Him and obey is the one and only way.
2336. Clouds and smoke may look the same, but they’re so very different.
2337. Look around and people are dying. They hate to walk; they’ve got to be flying. But six feet under, their relatives and friends are crying.
2338. Take a lesson from the big dinosaur: He didn’t get too very far; give an ear and hear the sparrows tell their story to you.
2339. To win a race there are a thousand in a throng, but only one of them is destined to be strong. Will you tell me nine hundred and ninety-nine are wrong?
2340. Take a lesson from some of the grasses: Look and see that they are eaten by asses, but after asses go, the grasses stay behind to grow.
2341. You needn’t live to others’ expectations; You’ll give your heart too many palpitations. Do what you can for now and gently put the rest away.
2342. Take it easy, the night has a reason; for everything, there is a time and a season. You’ll never find a tree that bears its fruit all the time.
2343. Easy does it, friend, don’t be in perplexion. You never lose because you fail to make connection. You only lose because connection’s so important to you.
2344. Where were you when the world was without you? Where will you be when it goes on beyond you?
2345. There is a place not far away, a place for which saints long and pray, and when they go, they’re there to stay.
2346. Only by blood will the truth be shared. Truth goes to the gallows so others are spared.
2347. My greatest need is to put others’ needs before mine. When I do that, my needs will be met.
2348. Those who love vain flattery loathe constructive criticism.
2349. The fool speaks for himself, so he opens his mouth at any time. The wise one speaks for others, so closes his mouth until the time.
2350. For adamant fools there is no correction, only destruction.
2351. The fool tells the wise to shut his mouth; the wise shuts the fool’s mouth.
2352. The essence of the worthwhile draws criticism. The worthless merits little attention.
2353. As one wouldn’t put clean water in a dirty cup, so God won’t put His Word in the mouth of one whose heart isn’t sanctified.
2354. Far easier to do great evil than a little good.
2355. Anyone who says they can hardly wait to get to Heaven has no idea what he’s talking about.
2356. There is no power without the pain, no victory without surrender, and no glory without shame.
2357. Freedom is Honesty’s destiny.
2358. Cowards can hardly be honest about others, how much less about themselves.
2359. Haste sows for disappointment but patience reaps satisfaction and joy.
2360. Impatience is covetousness of time and production.
2361. Obedience is wisdom; one learns wisdom through suffering.
2362. As all clouds cast shadows, so impatience and unbelief always cost. But patience and faith are as a clear sky.
2363. Comprehensive insurance and trustworthy security are available only within.
2364. A wealthy person can afford to dress poorly.
2365. Tending to another’s interests as though they were one’s own is called faithfulness.
2366. The moment one ceases to be concerned about being wrong, he is right.
2367. Sorrow and suffering are the stuff of glory.
2368. The poor are the rich and the rich are the poor; the weak are the strong and the strong are the weak.
2369. The servant is in charge and the master obeys; the head is the tail and the tail is the head.
2370. The one who never looks back captures Jerusalem without firing a shot.
2371. Publish the Truth; darkness is banished by the Light.
2372. The left starts the fight and the right finishes it.
2373. Against honesty and Truth, there is no weapon or defense.
2374. Better to look ahead than back, to gaze at a banquet table than a toilet bowl.
2375. What has passed, is past; let it go. Why would you want to be constipated instead of satiated?
2376. If we’re willing to bear with one another’s faults and infirmities, we’ll reap the benefits of their strengths and qualities. Aren’t we willing to get past the peel of a fruit or vegetable to enjoy its meat?
2377. A man isn’t free until he can cry freely in public.
2378. Pain is the process.
2379. The convenience of the few must make way for the safety of the many, but leftists say the benefit of the many must give way to the privilege of the elite few.
2380. Genuine tears are more powerful than bullets, but false tears turn on the shooter.
2381. This generation is oh, so guilty of innocence. Try to correct them and they will defend themselves, to your death, if necessary.
2382. The incorrigible serve their purpose faithfully; that is why they’re incorrigible.
2383. God is faithful to warn His servants, but fools are delivered to destruction without warning, for they are brutish.
2384. Blessed is the man whose privilege it is to stand still and see the Lord fight his battles.
2385. Blessed is the man who has faithful friends. He is so blessed because he has been a faithful friend.
2386. Blessed is the man whose aim is to give and not to receive.
2387. Blessed is the man whose honor is appreciated and not despised.
2388. Blessed is the man whose honor is earned and not expected.
2389. Blessed is the man who fears only God and no man.
2390. Blessed are those who serve a blessed man.
2391. Blessed is the one who trusts the Lord for vengeance against those who offend him.
2392. Blessed is the man who believes; he rests in peace.
2393. Blessed is the one whose sole desire is only good; he is God’s friend.
2394. Blessed is the man who has ten enemies and only one friend. The balance is in his favor.
2395. Blessed is the one who has learned not to judge after the appearance; he will know the Truth.
2396. Blessed is the man who is satisfied with what he has; he’ll be given more.
2397. Blessed is the man who knows his God; he can’t be moved by any trouble or stopped by any obstacle – his is all the power in Heaven and on earth.
2398. Stars and angels stand ready to fight for the man of faith; woe to his enemies; they have no idea.
2399. I have learned that God’s vengeance on those whom an evil man hates is a fraction of what that evil man would choose, but God’s vengeance on those enemies who hate a righteous man is ten times more than the righteous man would desire.
2400. A man’s friends serve him willingly; a man’s enemies serve him unwittingly.
2401. As Heaven is higher than the earth, so are wisdom and understanding higher than silver and gold.
2402. A wise man loves what is good and prospers those around him in righteousness; a fool loves what is evil and destroys both the righteous and the wicked.
2403. There is a vulgar expression today and it is the common stamp representing the demise of this generation.
2404. Our efforts to gain and improve ourselves on earth slowly diminish in power by and by, but the value of our work towards an afterlife can only increase in value. Otherwise, what is the point?
2405. Always trust God to balance the books. We don’t even know how to count but He is the Consummate Comptroller.
2406. The one who innocently suffers theft and injustice will be compensated, and he who steals and is unjust will also be compensated.
2407. As humans, we are far more inclined to make enemies of our friends than friends of our enemies. The son of God is called upon to love his enemies and he hears and obeys.
2408. Even the deaf can hear music that is more than sound.
2409. There are many songs and a lot of singers, but only one song.
2410. We see how a deer will frequent the same location for food repeatedly though it finds nothing on several visits. Then it finds what it’s after. Faith and patience are her strengths and grant her ultimate success.
2411. All things, both good and evil, come to pass until one day, hope changes to assurance, and goodness comes to remain.
2412. A dead tree can be more useful than a living one. Both the dead and the living have their place.
2413. I know a liar who is the first one to believe his lies.
2414. While they look much the same for a moment, what a difference between a sunrise and a sunset – one brings light and the other, darkness. A daily lesson on the works of both good and evil.
2415. Not all favor is earned or deserved; some is freely granted, but let it not be taken for granted.
2416. A man’s work well done is his greatest pleasure.
2417. God indeed spoils His children, and He does it in one way only – by Sabeans and Chaldeans.
2418. To have friends, one needs to be a friend.
2419. Critics are of greater value than flatterers and sycophants.
2420. Children do not regard their parents as parents regard children.
2421. Connections are good, but relationships are better.
2422. If light is greater than darkness, and it is, then there is no such thing as an insoluble problem.
2423. There is no such thing as a question without a true answer.
2424. Forgiveness says, “Yes, you’ve done evil, you’ve done me evil, but I surrender any right to revenge or evil toward you for it. Let God be the judge; I rest my case with the One Who Alone knows all the facts.”
2425. Whatever man has touched, he has defiled, in order to learn that he cannot match his Maker.
2426. There has always been a remnant of evil in good and good in evil.
2427. Ease tends to spoil and difficulty to improvement.
2428. Evolutionists, heads up with heads bowed. Why should you remain in your graves with faces up and no hope forever?
2429. The glove of falsehood is the perfect fit for the human hand; no other glove will do.
2430. It’s much easier being humble and honest when you’re confident and respected. It’s much easier to be confident and respected when you’re humble and honest.
2431. It’s much easier for one to be honest and confident when one is humbled.
2432. It’s easier to respect oneself when one is respected by others. It is much easier to be respected by others when one respects oneself.
2433. A True Christian is not defined by his incapability of any evil but by his consistent choice to not do evil.
2434. Those who choose to please their fellow human beings are traitors to their Maker, and those who choose to please God will certainly displease their fellow man.
2435. One can seldom if ever determine another’s standing with God by any external association or activity.
2436. People are crying out for deliverance from the consequences of sin but who is crying out for deliverance from sin?
2437. To trust the Lord amid any evil is the most rewarding thing man can experience; it is also what pleases God the most.
2438. One cannot have good without evil or evil without good.
2439. Evil is the means that forms the good.
2440. Not only ought we to forgive those who do us evil; we ought to thank God for them because He sends them to us for our great benefit.
2441. If you’re afraid of losing, you’re afraid of winning, like one is afraid of a journey to a destination.
2442. Arrogance mistakes capability for infallibility but is incapable of realizing it is doing so.
2443. Pride is seldom corrected by gentle instruction and more often by the humbling of stern circumstances.
2444. Patience is the goal of fulfillment that patience waits for.
2445. The real fruit of patience is to achieve what was needed and not what was awaited.
2446. The wise of this world travel a dusty road leading nowhere.
2447. The wise of this world don’t realize that their own arrival is the destination.
2448. When reaching the end of themselves, those wise in their own eyes are dead tired of a fruitless journey; only then can they set out in the right direction by a right means.
2449. Religion and true faith in God are as opposite as superstition and truth.
2450. A man full of himself despises sustenance.
2451. Having much knowledge is a detriment to gaining wisdom.
2452. The one who believes in himself is like a branch that doesn’t need a stock. He is far from God.
2453. The one who believes in himself must take a hammer to his idol.
2454. The grave is the end of self-sufficiency. Only the dead need nothing more.
2455. Faith sees the unseen and knows what is real.
2456. Just when I think I know so much, a child comes to show me my need.
2457. A caterpillar can crawl and become a flutterby, but a flutterby can only fly and die.
2458. If one can answer the why, can one not answer all questions?
2459. God’s wisdom is in a rock, a blade of grass, a drop of water, a humble creature. The proud don’t know these things.
2460. A rock can have more wisdom than a man who thinks it can’t.
2461. There is no true satisfaction in any other but God instead of oneself.
2462. Life is an equation of light and darkness, good and evil, a harmonious balance of opposites.
2463. God so loved His son that He gave him all power in Heaven and earth.
2464. Much information is available in what is not readily perceived by the senses, but which may speak more loudly and clearly.
2465. There is nowhere good where evil is not found, and nowhere evil where good is not found. One cannot part what is inextricably bound as one.
2466. There are combinations of good and evil as created by God and combinations of good and evil as created by man. One is good and the other, evil.
2467. Without two of anything, there is nothing.
2468. As a river continuing to flow, this world’s riches aren’t meant for accumulation but for exercising the soul in receiving and releasing.
2469. In a world designed for conflict, if you have no opposition to what you do, it may well be you’re way off base.
2470. It may walk like a duck and quack like a duck but if it hates water, it is not a duck.
2471. It is often unproductive to agree to disagree and productive to disagree to agree.
2472. Reality will always ultimately outdo fantasy.
2473. How painful, disillusionment, but very necessary, like a key to a locked prison door!
2474. Moses wasn’t nearly as great a man as Charlton Heston and much greater.
2475. The real victory is a journey step by step.
2476. Faith determines the distance to the mountaintop.
2477. All of creation is made of fractals. A fractal is a copy of the greater that consists of it and others like it.
2478. Without the lesser, there is no greater; all are one. Let the greater respect the lesser as greater. Let the lesser be comfortable with the greater as lesser.
2479. As with a gun or knife, pragmatism can be used for both good or evil.
2480. Anger and hatred are very good, if in response to falsehood and injustice.
2481. Where, when, how, and why is Truth forbidden to be spoken, and by whom? It is the sole prerogative of Truth.
2482. History is very recent and even present. To the young, I say, “Tomorrow, you’ll be where I am, wonder at it, and remember I told you so.”
2483. Perception is often a formidable enemy to reality.
2484. Opinion is never a sure thing; only Truth is.
2485. When opinion and Truth meet, opinion must give way or death and hell follow.
2486. Pragmatism and truth are not always the same; pragmatism deals with what is expedient to the pragmatist while Truth serves all.
2487. Woe to the one who serves pragmatism; blessed are those who serve the Truth.
2488. It is interesting how two people can look with retrospect to a relationship and circumstances they shared, one person with appreciation and nostalgia, and another with regret and resentment – two opposing perspectives and attitudes.
2489. At times, the bottom is better than the top, as with a glass half full.
2490. For any person, man or woman, capability of the worst of evils is a foregone conclusion. The difference between people rests in what they choose to do.
2491. Blessed is that person who determines to have faith in God and patience with men.
2492. Blessed is that man who can respond and remain in stride to the evils besetting him.
2493. What is the use in comparing oneself to another when each are created for an entirely different purpose?
2494. Good and evil are in the hands of the Creator Who made both for His Purposes.
2495. There is a Divine Purpose for friends and a Divine Purpose for enemies.
2496. Our enemies can serve to be the greatest of favors to us.
2497. Why must those who love us serve in unpleasantness toward us? How can those who hate us do us so much good?
2498. Even manure of the clean makes our fields and gardens grow good food.
2499. Trouble comes to humble while peace and prosperity can pave the road to pride and return the soul to trouble.
2500. What soul is there that can escape the fruits of their doings? It would be like a river flowing opposite to its natural direction.