Chapter 12

1 good bad

2 good bad

3 bad good

2021 - 3 No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved. [Pro 12:3 ESV]

Cheating, lying, deceit, and so on are not good foundations for lasting stability.  They will not elevate one's reputation, they will not serve as a base for expansion.  People who choose to operate this way are only in it for themselves, not for their posterity, and certainly not for the benefit of their fellow man.  These are terrible, selfish, uncaring people.  Vs 7 confirms:  7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. [Pro 12:7 ESV]

4 good bad

5 good bad

6 bad good

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9 good bad

2024 - Reads pretty well in ESV, but not so much in KJV, NASB, and so on.  So here it is in ESV:

9 Better to be lowly and have a servant than to play the great man and lack bread. [Pro 12:9 ESV].  Also good is this one:

9 Better to be an ordinary person with a servant than to be self-important but have no food. [Pro 12:9 NLT]

10 good bad

2024 - About pets maybe.  Certainly about livestock.  You still choose how you treat them, even if you plan to eat them:

10 A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, But [even] the compassion of the wicked is cruel. [Pro 12:10 NASB95].

11 good bad

12 bad good

13 bad good

14 good good?

15 bad good

16 bad good

16 The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. [Pro 12:16 ESV]  I am really bugged when so many of these proverbs about fools apply so obviously to me.  I have lived a lot of my life as a fool.  There was always a reason that I didn't get promoted.  Those in authority recognized that I was a fool.  Very good at the nuts and bolts, but a fool as a person.

17 good bad

18 bad good

19 good bad

20 bad good

21 good bad

22 bad good

23 good bad

24 good bad

25 bad good

26 good bad

27 bad good

28 good good

The pattern changes, but I don't see that there is some overall.  It looks like there is variety, to ease the reading and to keep your attention, but no pattern inside pattern.  Unless you have to be Solomon to see it.

A couple I liked:

10 Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel. ...

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. ...

23 A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly. [Pro 12:10, 15, 23 ESV]