Proverbs1

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding,

³To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice, and integrity;

⁴To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion,

⁵A wise person will hear and increase in learning, And a person of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

⁶To understand a proverb and a saying, The words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, And do not ignore your mother’s teaching;

⁹For they are a graceful wreath for your head And necklaces for your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, Let’s lie in wait for blood, Let’s ambush the innocent without cause;

¹²Let’s swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us; We will all have one money bag,”

¹⁵My son, do not walk on the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, And they are quick to shed blood.

¹⁷Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.

¹⁹Such are the ways of everyone who makes unjust gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the public square;

²¹At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she declares her sayings:

²²“How long, you naive ones, will you love simplistic thinking? And how long will scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn to my rebuke, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

²⁵And you neglected all my advice And did not want my rebuke;

²⁶I will also laugh at your disaster; I will mock when your dread comes,

²⁷When your dread comes like a storm And your disaster comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but will not find me,

²⁹Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

³⁰They did not accept my advice, They disdainfully rejected every rebuke from me.

³¹So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own schemes.

³²For the faithlessness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”