Relations with associates
16 Those who reveal secrets have destroyed trust, and they will never find a friend for themselves.
17
Show affection to friends and be loyal to them, but if you reveal their secrets, don't follow after them.
18
Just as people destroy an enemy, so you have destroyed your friendship with your neighbors.
19
And as you set a bird free from your hand, so too you have let your neighbors go, and you won't catch them.
20
Don't pursue them, because they have withdrawn far away from you, and they have escaped like a gazelle from a trap.
21
In the same way that it's possible to bandage a wound, there's also reconciliation for insult, but the one who has let a friend's secrets slip out has no hope.
22
Those who wink their eye plan evil, and whoever recognizes them will keep their distance.
23
To your face their speech will be sweet, and they will express amazement at your words. But later they will distort what they said, and they will use your own words against you.
24
I've hated many things, but nothing compares with them. Even the Lord will hate them.
25
Those who throw stones up high throw them on their own heads, and a deceitful blow will open up wounds.
26
Whoever digs a hole will fall into it, and whoever sets a trap will get caught in it.
27
Evil will roll back upon those who practice evil, and they will never know where it came from.
28
Mocking and blaming belong to the arrogant, and vengeance, like a lion, will lie in wait for them.
29
Those who rejoice when godly people fall will get caught in a trap, and pain will consume them before their death.
30
Wrath and anger— these also are detestable, and they will possess the sinful person.