21 My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror
or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
26 for the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to do it.
28 Do not say to your neighbour, “Go, and come again,
tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.
29 Do not plan evil against your neighbour,
who dwells trustingly beside you.
30 Do not contend with a man for no reason,
when he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy a man of violence
and do not choose any of his ways,
32 for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord,
but the upright are in his confidence.
33 The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
34 Towards the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he gives favour.
35 The wise will inherit honour,
but fools get disgrace.
Of the last verses of the section (27-35), Kidner says, 'The genuineness of the trust (1-12) and wisdom (13-26) already expounded will be proved by love. So the chapter closes with samples of what it means to know God 'in all thy ways'(6)'. In other words, do not let us have any talk about trusting in the Lord if in fact we withhold good from them to whom it is due. Do not let us be hypocrites, says the writer. If we trust in the Lord, if we think wisdom is ours, then this is how it should express itself. Once again, there is the basic emphasis on down-to-earth, practical behaviour. Is it not so often in this realm that we tend to fall down in Christian living? The marginal rendering of 27a, 'the owners thereof' indicates that it is not merely inconsiderateness that is involved here, but injustice. We are holding on to what is not ours to hold. We can also usefully link the thought here with Paul's in Romans 13:7, 8, 'Owe no man anything but to love on another'. This, paradoxically, is a debt that we are always paying, and can never pay to the full. In 29 it is the abuse of one's neighbour's trust that is condemned: 'seeing he trusts you implicitly'. We have a graphic example of this betrayal of trust in Psalm 55. The abuse of trust is a grave and terrible sin, for it is a sin against love. The circum- stances in which one might be tempted to envy the oppressor (31) would be if he were seeming to get away with it; but this is a short-lived respite for him, for the Lord’s dis- pleasure is upon him even in his hour of seeming prosperity, and the curse will out and fulfil itself in due time (33). God is not mocked: 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap' (Galatians6:7).