1: Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know intelligence; 2: for I give you good doctrine: forsake ye not my law. 3: For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother. 4: And he taught me, and said unto me, Let thy heart retain my words; keep my commandments and live. 5: Get wisdom, get intelligence: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6: Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee; love her, and she shall preserve thee. 7: The beginning of wisdom [is], Get wisdom; and with all thy getting get intelligence. 8: Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her. 9: She shall give to thy head a garland of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow upon thee. 10: Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied. 11: I will teach thee in the way of wisdom, I will lead thee in paths of uprightness. 12: When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13: Take fast hold of instruction, let [her] not go: keep her, for she is thy life. 14: Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil [men]: 15: avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass away. 16: For they sleep not except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they have caused [some] to fall. 17: For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18: But the path of the righteous is as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come. 19: The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. 20: My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21: Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart. 22: For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23: Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded; for out of it are the issues of life. 24: Put away from thee perverseness of mouth, and corrupt lips put far from thee. 25: Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26: Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be well-ordered. 27: Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.
