1: The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2: To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding; 3: To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity; 4: To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion: 5: That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels: 6: To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7: The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. 8: My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother: 9: For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck. 10: My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not. 11: If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; 12: Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit; 13: We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil; 14: Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse: 15: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path: 16: For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood. 17: For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird: 18: And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives. 19: So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 20: Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places; 21: She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words: 22: How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge? 23: Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you. 24: Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded; 25: But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: 26: I also will laugh in [the day of] your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27: When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you. 28: Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me: 29: For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah: 30: They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof. 31: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices. 32: For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. 33: But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.
